and as strongly urged upon the Sultan that the army required rest, and that peace was absolutely necessary to enable the country to recover its industrial activity, the repression of which had already caused so much misery to the inhabitants. An appeal to Saladin on behalf of a suffering community was never .made in vain, and he consented to forego the attractions of military glory for the sake of his people's prosperity. A truce of three years and eight months, both by land and sea, was ultimately agreed upon, commencing 2nd of September, 1192. The crusading princes and generals took solemn oaths to observe the conditions of the treaty, with the sole exception of King Bichard, who held out his hand to the Saracen Sultan, and said that " There was his hand upon it, but a king's word might be taken without an oath." Saladin returned his grasp, and professed himself satisfied with that mode of ratifying the truce. He probably felt that in this frank and cordial demonstration he had a better guarantee of Bichard's good faith than any oath would have afforded ; for bitter experience had taught him that so long as an unscrupulous priest remained to give the sanction of the Church to an act of perfidious meanness, a Crusader's oath was of little value. The terms of the truce were, that the sea-board from Jaffa to Caesarea, and from Acre to Tyre, should remain in the hands of the Franks, and that Ascalon should not be rebuilt ; the Sultan, on his side, insisted that the territory of the Ismaélites should be included in the truce, and tbe Franks on theirs demanded a similar privilege for Antioch and Tripoli ; Lydda and Bamleh were to be considered common ground. · Saladin, on the conclusion of the truce, occupied himself in strengthening the walls and fortifications of Jerusalem ; and the Crusaders, having free access to the city, commenced visiting the Holy Sepulchre in crowds, and, to judge from the accounts given of their behaviour, this privilege, for which they had been fighting so long,