_ 188 _ whilst none of our men died and only a few were wounded. As I said our men sacked the city finding very rich spoils consisting of gold, silver and a great deal of merchandise. Among it there was a lot of Amber, which many of our men had never seen and took for ox manure. They would leave it and say that they couldn’t understand why these dogs wanted this manure. Some of these common soldiers kept meeting women who wore gold and silver bracelets on their arms and earrings on their ears. As they were in a hurry and didn’t wish to waste time taking them off, they would cut off the women’s hands and ears. It is said that they found close to 800 of these women, until the commander-in-chief forbade them to act in this way. During the sack many people were captured, and great quantities of provisions were seized. Once the plunder was over the town was burnt and razed to the ground. Later however the Arabs came to inhabit it again. The commander-in-chief then wanted to embark but strong wind started to blow, so that the sea became very agitated. Although he didn’t think it safe to embark in such conditions he decided to go ahead, for he had nowhere else to go to for shelter. The Arabs might return, if they found out that our men were still there. It proved extremely difficult to go back on board, and during it the commander-
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