That is, the ablest of them was put at the head of the most important of the territories. It was Egypt that would have to be relied upon in the last resort for men and supplies, and el-Adel could be depended upon to assemble whatever was required and to push it along in the shortest possible time. The son, el-Melek ez-Zaher, went to Aleppo, with the title of Sultan. This was as much a flattery to the Aleppans as it was an honor to ez-Zaher. In fact, Aleppo with its dependencies was of great importance, and Beha ed-din went so far as to say that it was the " foundation and seat " of the Sultan's whole power, and that when he had established his supremacy there he was able to relax his watchfulness over the countries to the eastward — Upper Mesopotamia, Mosul and Khelat — contenting himself with assurances of their loyalty and support. It was March, 1187 when Saladin, having completed his plans, set out for another attack upon pestiferous Kerak, taking along the troops from Aleppo. At Kuneitera he went into camp to await the arrival of contingents from Syria and Egypt, and sent out detachments to pillage and destroy in the country surrounding the fortress of Reginald de Chatillon. Assured of security against attack from the Franks in the territory of Raymond, through his treaty with that prince, he felt freer than ever before in his campaign against his bitterest enemy. It was just a year before that Reginald had attacked the caravan of pilgrims, and had added insult