The king returned to his camp, swearing and promising that he would never give them respite from attack until the town was entered by force, with no terms of surrender.

Now it is important for you to know that within the town there were some forty horses, besides other beasts of burden. When the water began to run short, they decided not to give the animals anything to drink. Their thirst was so great that, whenever the men urinated, the animals would go to suck and eat the damp earth. Then they decided to get rid of them to avoid watching them die. So that the Castilians should not get any use out of them, they pushed them all over the edge of the cliff down into the sea. Each man pushed his own animal, and thus all were killed. Because of the lack of water, they kneaded their bread with wine, and boiled their meat and fish in it. They ate the bread while it was hot, for when it was cold no one could eat it, and they did the same with other foods.

At one point the water of the cistern ran out, and they were forced to drink other, most loathsome water which had collected in the ditch from the rain that had fallen in the winter, in which the women, before the siege began, used to wash filthy clothes and infants’ nappies. This water was green and very dirty, and dead mules lay in it, as well as dogs and cats, so that it was a sickening thing to see. By night men would descend on ropes from within to make off with the said water. When the Castilians found out that they were taking it in that way, they endeavoured to guard it. Many times it happened by night and by day that men were killed and wounded on both sides over it. They would boil the water and, once it was boiled, they would drink it and make bread with it.

After this water became scarce, they tried to get it from the river, and from big tubs they had set up on the riverbank to collect fresh water. They would descend the cliff by a path they had made to get that water.