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SUEEENDEE OF GALATA 371 The podesta and his council went to Mahomet and pre- sented him with the keys of Galata. He received them graciously and gave them specious promises. The report of the podesta himself, written less than a month after the capture of the city, confirms in its essential features the accounts given by Ducas, Leonard, and others of the panic which seized the population under his rule. The Turks, he says, captured many of the burgesses who had been sent to fight at the stockade. A few managed to escape across the water and returned to their families, while others got on board the ships and left the country. He himself was disposed to sacrifice his life rather than abandon his charge. If he also had left, Galata would have been sacked, and he remained to secure its safety. ' I therefore sent ambassadors to my lord Mahomet, making submission and asking for the conditions of peace.' No answer was sent on the first day to this request, during which the ships were getting away as fast as possible. The podesta begged their captains for the love of God and their kindred to remain at least another day, as he felt confident that he would be able to make peace. They, however, refused, and sailed during the night. The statement regarding the sultan's anger was confirmed, for the podesta relates that Mahomet told his ambassadors, when he learned the news of the general flight, that he wanted to be rid of them all. Thereupon the podesta himself went to Mahomet, who either on the same day or shortly afterwards came into Galata and insisted that the fortifications should be so changed that the city would be at his mercy. The walls on the sea front were to be in great part destroyed: so also was the Tower of Galata — called sometimes the Tower of the Holy Cross — to which one end of the boom had been attached, and other strong portions of the defences. 1 All the cannon were taken away from Galata and the arms and ammunition belonging to the burgesses who had fled. Mahomet promised that these should be returned to those who came back. Accordingly, the podesta 1 About three fourths of the sea-walls were taken down. The remaining fourth was spared, and a portion of them near Azap Capou still remains. B B 2