boys in scarlet, bearing gold and silver bowls; thirty
more laden with purses; two hundred with rolls of fine cloth: such was
the present with which the High Admiral approached the Sultan's
presence.

Suleym[=a]n's genius was at that time bent upon three distinct
efforts: he was carrying on a campaign in Moldavia; his Suez fleet--a
novelty in Ottoman history--was invading the Indian Ocean, with no
very tangible result, it is true (unless a trophy of Indian ears and
noses may count), save the conquest of Aden on the return voyage, but
still a notable exploit, and disturbing to the Portuguese in Gujerat;
and his High Admiral was planning the destruction of the maritime
power of Venice.

In the summer of 1538, Barbarossa put off to sea, and soon had one
hundred and fifty sail under his command. He began by collecting
rowers and tribute from the islands, twenty-five of which had now been
transferred from the Venetian to the Turkish allegiance, and then laid
waste eighty villages in Candia. Here news was brought that the united
fleet of the Emperor, Venice, and the Pope was cruising in the
Adriatic, and the Captain Pasha hastened to meet it. The pick of the
Corsairs was with him. Round his flagship were ranged the galleys of
Dragut, Mur[=a]d Reis, Sin[=a]n, S[=a]lih Reis with twenty Egyptian
vessels, and others, to the number of one hundred and twenty-two
ships of war. The advance guard sighted part of the enemy off
Prevesa--a Turkish fortress opposite the promontory of Arta or Actium,
where Antony suffered his memorable defeat.

[Illustration: COMPASS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

(_Jurien de la Graviere._)]

The Christian strength was really overwhelming. Eighty Venetian,
thirty-six Papal, and thirty Spanish galleys, together with fifty
sailing galleons, made up a formidable total of nearly two hundred
ships of war, and they carried scarcely less than sixty thousand men,
and two thousand five hundred guns. Doria was in chief command, and
Capello and Grimani led the Venetian and Roman contingents. Barbarossa
had fortunately received but an imperfect report of the enemy's
strength and so boldly pursued his northerly course up the Adriatic.
When he reached Prevesa, the combined fleets had gone on to Corfu, and
he was able to enter unopposed the spacious gulf of Arta, where all
the navies of the world might safely anchor and defy pursuit.

On September 25th, the allied fleets appeared off the entrance to the
gulf, and the