In a small island like Minorca a population could soon be extirpated by ruthless invaders without pity or remorse and actuated by unreasoning bigotry. Their cruelties were not only condoned but encouraged by their priests. It is a revolting picture. There was an industrious and happy people, engaged in cultivating a not very grateful soil, which needed much toil and no little skill to induce it to yield harvests sufficient for the wants of a frugal population. In homes endeared to them by centuries of occupation, and surrounded by their wives and children, they were living in peace and comparative prosperity, and enjoying the hard-earned fruits of their toil. The land tax, paid in kind, was the regular source of revenue in all Muhammadan countries. In Minorca the Almojarife, or collector, appears to have been the hereditary chief of the island. Suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, in a few days total destruction came upon them. Thousands were killed, all their chief men with their families disappeared, all their property was seized, wives were torn from husbands, children from parents, and sold into slavery. Turning away from the horrors of this scene of cruelty and wrong, we may assume an interval of confusion, and then the farms and villages of the Moors are occupied by Catalan families equally industrious and hard-working. The Christians were exposed to heavier exactions and suffered under a less enlightened rule, so that perhaps we should give them even greater credit than their predecessors for the way in which they extracted the means of supporting themselves and their families from the stony fields. Minorca continued to share the fortunes of the larger island under her own kings, under the Kings of Aragon, and under the Austrian dynasty of Spain. The form of government was the same as that granted to Majorca by En Jayme. The smaller island suffered equally with Majorca from the raids of Barbary pirates, who carried off many unfortunate people into slavery. All the islanders rejoiced at the campaign against Tunis, led by the Emperor Charles V. in person, who liberated several thousands of Christian slaves in 1535. Yet the piracies did not cease, or only for a time. Barbarossa, the piratical leader, undeterred by the fall of Tunis, fitted out a fleet of eleven galleys and made sail for the Balearic Islands. His fleet entered Port Mahon with Christian banners flying, to deceive the soldiers in the fort and the inhabitants, who were completely taken in. Bells were rung and guns fired in honour of what was supposed to be a part of the Emperor’s fleet. A boat with some Franciscan friars approached the galleys and discovered the mistake. They pulled back to the shore, raised a warning, and the gates of the town were closed.