Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/113

 DYNASTIC TROUBLES. 95 Ilis movements. On the day following liis arrival, these troops fought with the rebellions army from dawn to midday, the latter liaving tlie advantage in consequence of their better discipline, of the number of Sicilians who were in tlieir ranks, and of their being better armed. The city-guard, therefore, had to retreat within the walls. Branas gave his troops five days' rest, and prepared for a general attack. lie sent a de- tachment of soldiers round to the north side of the Golden Horn, and collected a great number of fishermen and sailors from the Marmora, who were ready to assist in the siege. A severe fight took place at the junction of the Bosphorus ' and the Golden Horn, between the fleet of small caiques, probably little different in their graceful shape from those which still dot the Marmora, aided by the detachment already mentioned from the army and the imperial fleet. The caiques w^ere well handled, and gave great trouble to the heavy vessels of the fleet ; and though the victory was claimed by the latter, the caiques were, in most cases, able to reach the shore when hard pressed, and were there protected by the troops of Branas. The rebel general now made preparations to take the city Isaac is aided ^J famine. He forbade the entry of any provisions by courad. ^^ laud, and prepared a fleet to cut off the supply by sea after it had defeated that of the emperor. Isaac was not unpopular in the city, and the people were disposed to stand by him, but he was wanting in energy, and might have lost his throne had there not been present one who was ready to lend his services in the defence. Conrad, the son of the Marquis of Montferrat,^ had come to Constantinople to marry far as I can find, was never applied by the Byzantine writers to the whole of the straits, but only to the part between the city and Chrysopolis or Scutari. At the latter city there is still a wliarf or scala known as the Ox-scala, and I would suggest that the myth which has gathered around the name Bosporos has its foundation in the fact that, from the earliest existence of Byzantium, the ox-ferry w^ould be in the place to which the term is applied by the Byzantine writers. ' This Conrad was an elder brother of Boniface, the leader of the expe- dition to Constantinople in 1203. See tables in Du Cange's " Observa- tions on Villehardouin."
 * "Hri<,' TTopog jSoug KiKXrftTKeTai, Nicctas, p. 494. The name Bosphorus, so