Note 137 — BOOK III. (continued 2)

Some learned writers cannot trace messages by pigeons further back than the reign of Saladin. It is true that it was in the reigns of Nouradin and Saladin that regular posts, served by pigeons, were organized in Egypt; but this means of communication was very ancient in the East. The recital of Albert d’Aix cannot be doubted. The historian speaks of the surprise that this sort of messengers produced among the Crusaders; and as the fact appeared remarkable to him, he has not neglected the smallest details of it:—Legati sine morâ columbas duas, aves gratas et domitas, secum allatas eduxerunt è sinu suo, ac chartâ, ducis responsis promissisque fidelibus inscriptâ, caudis illarum filo innodatâ, è manibus suis has ad ferenda læta nuncia emiserunt.... Jam cum chartis sibi commissis aves advolaverunt, in solium et mensam ducis Hasart fideliter reversæ.... Princeps autem ex more solito aves domesticas piè suscipiens, chartas intitulatas à caudis earum solvit, secreta ducis Godfredi perlegit. We shall see in the fourth book of this history another example of this means of communication employed by the Saracens.