ies
coffee.--E.]

That same evening at almost three o'clock of the night[41], ten or
twelve elders of the city came into the encampment of our caravan, close
by one of the gates of the city, where running about like madmen, they
continually cried out aloud, "Mahomet the apostle of God shall rise
again: O prophet of God thou shalt rise again. God have mercy upon us!"
Alarmed by these cries, our captain and all of us seized our weapons in
all haste, suspecting that the Arabians had come to rob our caravan. On
demanding the reason of all this outcry, for they cried out as is done
by the Christians when any miraculous event occurs, the elders answered,
"Saw you not the light which shone from the sepulchre of the prophet?"
Then said one of the elders, "Are you slaves?" meaning thereby bought
men or Mamelukes; and when our captain answered that we were Mamelukes,
the elder replied, "You, my lords, being new to the faith, and not yet
fully confirmed in the religion of our holy prophet, cannot see these
heavenly things." To which our captain answered, "O! you mad and
insensate beasts! I thought to have given you three thousand pieces of
gold; but now I shall give you nothing, you dogs and progeny of dogs?"
Now, it is to be understood that the pretended miraculous light which
was seen to proceed from the sepulchre, was merely occasioned by a flame
made by the priests in the open part of the tower formerly mentioned,
which they wished to impose on us as a miracle. After this our commander
gave orders that none of the caravan should enter into the temple.
Having thus seen with my own eyes, I can assuredly declare that there is
neither iron nor steel, nor magnet stone by which the tomb of Mahomet is
made to hang in the air, as some have falsely imagined, neither is there
any mountain nearer to Medina than four miles. To this city of Medina
corn and all other kinds of victuals are brought from Arabia Felix,
Babylon or Cairo in Egypt, and from Ethiopia by way of the Red Sea,
which is about four days journey from the city.

[Footnote 41: Counting from sunset after the manner of the
Italians.--E.]

Having remained three days in our encampment on the outside of Medina to
rest and refresh ourselves and our animals, and being satisfied, or
disgusted rather, by the vile and abominable trumperies, deceits, and
hypocritical trifles of the Mahometan delusions, we determined to resume
our journey; and procuring a pilot or guide, who might d