קיר SUSA-AFRICA OR MAHADI. 315 not walk, for they were heavy of age*. And they took the wheat and the barley, and the oil and the flax, which the men of the city had left there; and they left no gleanings in it at that times. And there went out Ishmaelites, who rode upon horses against them, and slew many of the uncircumcised with the edge of the sword. And of the Ishmaelites there died only a small number, for their horses are swifter than the weaver's shuttlet: even when they would have pursued them, they could not overtake them. 1017. And when the men of Susa§ heard it, they fled also with their young and old; and they sent thither to spy out, and they found not one that pisseth against the wall; and they brought back word unto Andrea, and he went. not thither||. And the men of Africa, which is Mahadi¶, bent their shoulder to bear**, for the fear of the uncircumcised fell upon them. And they delivered the city into the hand of the king, and made a covenant with them. And Africa was a fenced city with gates of iron; and from ancient time they would not let any man come into it who was not of their covenant. Until the time of its visitation camett, no stranger came into it; but it † Is. xvii. 6. * Gen. xlviii. 10. .מהאדי ך Job vii. 6. || Num. xiii. 26. ** Gen. xlix. 15. †† Jer. xlvi. 21; 1. 27. Micah vii. 4. 316 KAIRWAN IN BARBARY. קיר became a servant unto tribute at that time. And the king put a garrison into the midst thereof. And the king of Tunis also came into these cities on the way by land with a strong hand. And he came before the viceroy and Andrea Doria, and bowed to the ground, and they honored him much. And he gave them presents and precious things; and they returned unto their own country; and his throne was firmly established. 1018. And they left there about three thousand Spaniards to be a help to the king, and to bring back unto the king the rebellious cities; for so the emperor had commanded. And Kairwan* was a city and a mother in Barbary; and in the midst thereof was the Ishmaelitish high priest, and they would not allow Jews to live there until this day. And the king of Tunis desired to make war against it. And he gathered his army, and took the Spaniards also with him; and they went thither. And the Ishmaelites went out against him with a strong hand. And some of the Ishmaelites also who were under the command of his son, turned to be his enemiest at that time. And when the king saw that evil was determined against him, he drew back without success, and the war ceased. T'P TURKISH FLEET DEFEATED, A.M. 5301. 317 1019. And the Turks went out in ships from Algier in those days to spoil the countries of their enemies, and they went unto Gibraltar, and the Lord gave it into their hand; and they took all its spoil, and returned unto Algier with gladness. And when the Turks heard that the ships of the Spaniards had no strength to withstand against them, they said, "This is the time to laugh; God hath delivered them into our hand*." And they appointed a captaint, and returned to Spain with fifteen galleys, and knew not that the time of their visitation was come, and the Lord had them in derision‡. And the report was heard in Spain; and they also put soldiers and weapons of war in galleys, and went out against them. 1020. And it came to pass, on the second day of the month of October, in the year three hundred and one, after the smaller date, that the Turks drew nigh and set the battle in array, fifteen ships against sixteen. And it came to pass, as they were warring, that four of the Turkish ships fled, and turned their necks, and the rest were slain with the edge of the sword. And there fell of them one thousand men in that slaughter. And of the uncircumcised were about three hundred slain by the edge of the sword, besides the wounded, + Num. xiv. 4. § 2 Chr. xxix. 6. * 1 Sam. xiv. 10. 318 SOLYMAN REBUILDS JERUSALEM. קיר who were a great multitude. And the rest took the ships of Algier and the spoil, and returned to their own country, and gave thanks unto their God. 1021. In that year the Lord stirred up the spirit of Solyman*, the king of Greece and Persia, and he thought to set up the walls of Jerusalem, the holy city, which is in the land of Judah. And he sent officers, and they builded her walls, and they set up her gates as at the first, and her towers as at the beginning. And his fame went out over the whole world, for he did great things. And also the upper pool they conducted through the city, lest the people should happen to thirst for water. May God remember it unto him for good. 1022. In those days, when the emperor abode at Ratisbon, he thrust out altogether the Jews from the kingdom of Naples, and remembered not his covenant. And they sent to Ratisbon to beseech him, and to request their life from before him, but he had no compassion upon them. And our brethren, the house of Israel, went as exiles hither and thither, as sheep which have no shepherd**. O that the Lord would hehold it, and have compassion for his great name's sake! Some of them Gen. xli. 34; Esth. ii. 3. § Joel. ii. 20; Ps. exxvi. 2, 3. Exod. xi. 1. ** Num. xxvii. 17. Ezra li. 5; 2 Chr. xxxvi. 22. קיר ABARBANEL IN FERRARA, A.D. 1541. 319 went to Turkey, and some of them were drowned in the sea, and some of them were taken captive by Ragosiano*, the captain of the navy, who led them unto Marseille. And it was told unto the king of France, who had compassion upon them, and took them out of the hand of the enemy that oppresseth, free, without ransomt. And he sent them unto the east, for the Lord had granted them compassion before his sight; yea, and he shall be blessed§. And the noble Don Samuel Abarbanel and his house, came unto Ferrara, and abode there; and this came to pass in the year one thousand five hundred and forty-one. 1023. And the ships of the emperor went to the land of Ishmael, to bring the Spaniards whom they had left there in the month of May, which is the third month. And they went on shore at Pakos, a city of Barbary, to draw water. But the Arabs fell upon them suddenly, and slew of them two hundred men with the edge of the sword; and the rest fled before them, and swam on the surface of the water unto the ships, and their life was unto them for a prey. And they journeyed thence by command of the king of Tunis, Comp. Exod. xxi. 2. .הראגוסיאו * .פאקוס || + Numb. x. 9. § Gen. xxvii. 33. Gen, xxiv. 13. |