text:  The brutal demeanour of the men their bearded and savage aspect; the disheveled bloodstained women mingling their shrill voices with the hoarse tones of their male companions; the disordered but often picturesque garb and various weapons of the pirates; the whole seen by the light of the burning houses--more resembled an orgie of demons than an assemblage of human beings; and even the cool and resolute Proveditore felt himself shudder and turn pale as he contemplated this carnival of horrors celebrated by wretches on whose hands the blood of their fellow-men was as yet hardly dry