knights, were, as usual, in the van, forcing a passage through the dense masses of the Moslems. The country in every direction around their line of march, was laid waste, and every day the attacks became more daring. The military friars had hitherto borne the brunt of the affray, but on the march to Tortura, they suffered such heavy loss, that king Richard determined the next day to take the command of the van in person, and he directed them to bring up the rear. On the fifth day from their leaving the river Belus, the Templars and the crusaders approached the far-famed Cæsarea, where St. Paul so long resided, and where he uttered his eloquent oration before king Agrippa and Felix. But the town was no longer visible; the walls, the towers, the houses, and all the public buildings, had been destroyed by command of Saladin, and the place was left deserted and desolate. The Templars pitched their tents on the banks of the Crocodile river, the _flumen crocodilon_ of Pliny, having been five days in performing the journey from the river Belus, a distance of only thirty-six miles. The army halted at Cæsarea during the whole of Sunday, the 1st of September, and high mass was celebrated by the clergy with great pomp and solemnity, amid the ruins of the city. On Monday, the 2nd of September, the tents of the Templars were struck at morning’s dawn, and they commenced their march, with the leading division of the army, for the city of Jaffa, which is about thirty miles distant from Cæsarea. They forded the Crocodile river, and proceeded on their journey through a long and narrow valley, torn by torrents, and filled with vast masses of rock, which had been washed down from the heights by the winter rains. They had the sea on their right, and on their left, a chain of craggy eminences. Every advantage was taken by the enemy of the irregularity of the ground; the Mussulman archers lined the heights, and vast masses of cavalry were brought into action, wherever the nature of the country admitted of their employment. The christian warriors were encumbered with their heavy armour and military accoutrements, which were totally unfit for the burning climate, yet they enthusiastically toiled on, perseveringly overcoming all obstacles.