His stature was indeed above the middle size,
but he was at least three inches shorter than the European, whose
size approached the gigantic. His slender limbs and long, spare
hands and arms, though well proportioned to his person, and
suited to the style of his countenance, did not at first aspect
promise the display of vigour and elasticity which the Emir had
lately exhibited. But on looking more closely, his limbs, where
exposed to view, seemed divested of all that was fleshy or
cumbersome; so that nothing being left but bone, brawn, and
sinew, it was a frame fitted for exertion and fatigue, far beyond
that of a bulky champion, whose strength and size are
counterbalanced by weight, and who is exhausted by his own
exertions. The countenance of the Saracen naturally bore a
general national resemblance to the Eastern tribe from whom he
descended, and was as unlike as possible to the exaggerated terms
in which the minstrels of the day were wont to represent the
infidel champions, and the fabulous description which a sister
art still presents as the Saracen's Head upon signposts.
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