Note 447 — Chapter XXX · CALIPHATE OF OTHMAN. GENERAL REVIEW. A.H. XXIV.-XXXV. A.D. 645–656.
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Coming there in disguise, he was recognised by a woman, who gave the alarm, and the natives rushed upon the boat. Asked how she recognised the Saracen captain, this woman said, ‘He came as a merchantman; but when I asked an alms of him, he gave as a prince giveth; so I knew it was the captain of the Saracens.’
The payment of jazia, or poll-tax, implied the corresponding claim of protection. Zimmy signifies one who, so assessed, becomes part and parcel of the Moslem empire, and as such entitled to its guardianship. The Cypriots were not expected, from their position, to take any active part on the Moslem side; but they were bound to give their new masters warning of any hostile expedition, and generally to facilitate their naval operations.
As the great crowd of prisoners were being shipped, one of the Moslem warriors wept; for, said he, ‘those captives will lead the hearts of their masters astray’—one of the few occasions on which we see a faint perception of the evils of female slavery to the conquerors themselves; for that I take to be the meaning.