"No one," says he, "could behold the sufferings of the Jewish exiles unmoved. A great many perished of hunger, especially those of tender years. Mothers, with scarcely enough strength to support themselves, carried their famished infants in their arms, and died with them. Many fell victims to the cold, others to intense thirst, while the unaccustomed distress, incident to a sea voyage, aggravated their maladies. I will not enlarge on the cruelty and the avarice which they frequently experienced from the masters of the ships which transported them from Spain. Some were murdered to gratify their cupidity, others forced to sell their children for the expenses of the passage. They arrived in Genoa in crowds, but were not suffered to tarry there long, by reason of the ancient law, which interdicted the Jewish traveler from a longer residence than three days. They were allowed, however, to refit their vessels and to recruit themselves for some days from the fatigue of the voyage. One might have taken them for spectres, so emaciated were they, so cadaverous in their aspect, and with eyes so sunken; they differed in nothing from the dead, except in the power of motion, which, indeed, they scarcely retained. Many fainted and expired on the mole, which, being completely surrounded by the sea, was the only quarter vouchsafed to the wretched emigrants. The infection, bred by such a swarm of dead and dying persons, was not at once perceived; but when winter broke up, ulcers began to make their appearance, and the malady, which lurked for a long time in the city, broke out into the plague in the following year."[42] [42] Prescott: "Ferdinand and Isabella," Volume I, chapter xvii. * * * * * More fortunate were the exiles that landed upon the shores of Naples. Its king, _Ferdinand I._, was a prudent sovereign, a distinguished scholar, and, unlike the other rulers of Europe, he had succeeded in keeping his power above that of the Church, and his heart free from the inhumanity and bigotry of the clergy. He opened his kingdom to the Jews, made the great Abarbanel, formerly in the service of Isabella, of Castile, one of his cabinet officers, and personally defended the Jews from an attack of the clergy and of the populace, who held the presence of the Jews accountable for the plague which was then raging, as elsewhere in Europe, in Naples. Equally as fortunate were those who landed upon the coasts where the Turks held dominion. Sultan _Bajazet_ received them cheerfully, provided for them humanely, and directed their intellect and industry into useful channels. "Do they call this Ferdinand, of Spain, a prudent prince," asks the Sultan, "who can thus impoverish his own kingdom and enrich ours?"