Note 9 — Chapter I

Joinville describes the Sultan Beybars’ camp at Damietta: It was entered through a tower of fir-poles covered round with coloured stuff, and inside was the tent where the lords left their weapons when they sought audience of the Sultan. “Behind this tent there was a doorway similar to the first, by which you entered a large tent, which was the Sultan’s hall. Behind the hall there was a tower like the one in front, through which you entered the Sultan’s chamber. Behind the Sultan’s chamber there was an enclosed space, and in the centre of this enclosure a tower, loftier than all the others, from which the Sultan looked out over the whole camp and country. From the enclosure a pathway went down to the river, to the spot where the Sultan had spread a tent over the water for the purpose of bathing. The whole of this encampment was enclosed within a trellis of wood-work, and on the outer side the trellises were spread with blue calico (?) . . . and the four towers were also covered with calico.” Hutton’s trans. p. 94.