In the month of August we went on board our ships at the Rock of Marseilles. The day we embarked the door of the vessel was opened, and the horses that we were to take with us were led inside. Then they fastened the door and closed it up tightly, as when one sinks a cask, because when the ship is at sea the whole of the door is under water. When the horses were in, our sailing-master called out to his mariners who were at the prow: "Are you all ready?" And they replied: "Sir, let the clerks and priests come forward." As soon as they had come nigh, he shouted to them; "Chant, in God's name!" And they with one voice chanted, "_Veni, Creator Spiritus._" Then the master called out to his men: "Set sail, in God's name!" And they did so. And in a little time the wind struck the sails and carried us out of sight of land, so that we saw nothing but sea and sky; and every day the wind bore us farther away from the land where we were born. And thereby I show you how foolhardy he must be who would venture to put himself in such peril with other people's property in his possession, or while in deadly sin; for when you fall asleep at night you know not but that ere the morning you may be at the bottom of the sea. [Sidenote: Preparations made in Cyprus] When we reached Cyprus, the king was already there, and we found an immense supply of stores for him, i.e., wine-stores and granaries. The king's wine-stores consisted of great piles of casks of wine, which his people had purchased two years before the king's arrival and placed in an open field near the seashore. They had piled them one upon the other, so that when seen from the front they looked like a farmhouse. The wheat and barley had been heaped up in the middle of the field, and at first sight looked like hills; for the rain, which had long beaten upon the corn, had caused it to sprout, so that nothing was seen but green herbage. But when it was desired to transport it to Egypt, they broke off the outer coating with the green herbage, and the wheat and barley within were found as fresh as if they had only just been threshed out. [Sidenote: An embassy from the Khan]