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 222 DESTEUCTION OF THE GREEK EMPIRE By the end of March Mahomet's preparations were nearly complete. He had already summoned all available cavalry and infantry from Asia and the parts of Europe under his control. As they arrived he drilled, classified, and formed them into bodies of cuirassiers (or men with breast- plates), slingers, archers, and lancers, ^he While it is impossible to state with anything like Turkish army. certainty what was the number of fighting men whom Mahomet was shortly to bring before the walls of the city, the materials for forming a general computation are not wanting. The Turkish army was composed of regulars and irregulars. The first and most important division of regulars were the Janissaries. After them came a great horde of Turks from those who had 'occupied Asia Minor and Europe. Every Turk was bound to serve, and a call had been made on all. The Turkish nation was the Turkish army. Among them were many men who represented the class subsequently known as Derrybeys, chieftains who held their lands from the sultan on condition of bringing a number of retainers into the field during war. The irregulars, or, as they may be conveniently called, the Bashi- Bazouks, consisted partly of the poorest class of Turks, who did not possess a horse, and partly of Christians attracted by the hope of plunder. Amid the estimates of the number of men in Mahomet's army, that of Barbaro may be taken as safe and substantially correct. He takes note of both regulars and irregulars — that is, of all the combatants — while he disregards the camp- followers as non-combatants. He states, when speaking of the siege, that there were a hundred and fifty thousand men stationed between the Golden Horn and the Marmora. As, excluding the men on the fleet, all Mahomet's followers took part in it, the number mentioned may be taken as Barbaro's estimate of the whole Turkish army. Cheirullah, a Turkish chronicler, affirms that there were not more than pendent of wind for propulsion were at hand to take the offensive. There were probably many smaller merchant ships and boats of which no account was taken.