These measures of decision having been taken, Godfrey and his companions set fire to their camp, and quitted the siege of Archas: many of the Provençals abandoned Raimond, and hastened after the rest; and the count himself,[438] though unwillingly, was obliged to follow. The noble sincerity and moderation of the crusaders in their conduct to the emir of Tripoli has not been dwelt upon sufficiently by those authors who have lost no opportunity of pointing out their cruelties and excesses. They entered a rich and beautiful country, where spoil of every kind lay around them. The inhabitants were infidels, and had been enemies: but the host of the crusade passed through the whole without the slightest violation of their treaty.[439] To prevent even casual injury, they encamped at a distance from the towns, waited for the supplies that had been promised them, and followed, with confidence and regularity, the guide who was appointed to conduct them through the land.[440] When at war, the crusaders waged it with all the barbarity of the age--the slaughter of the infidel adversary was a virtue praised by historians, and sung by poets, and mercy would have been held a weakness: but with those to whom they had bound themselves in peace, we seldom find that, _as a body_, they violated the most chivalric adherence to their promises. In the neighbourhood of Tripoli, the Europeans first beheld the sugar-cane,[441] and learned the method of preparing the valuable juice which has since been such an article of commerce in Europe.