enter the harbour, certainly not more than a seventh part are Spanish vessels. A road that winds along the coast, leads from Malaga to Velez Malaga, which although insignificant in point of population, is a place of considerable industry and trade; it stands on the side of Menoba, and the vineyards in the neighbourhood are almost as much famed as those of Malaga. BOOK CXXXIX. Mountain. Antequera or the ancient Antecaria, situated between Lovers' the heights of the same name and the Guadiaro, contains a greater number of inhabitants than the last town. The Lovers' Mountain (Pena de los Enamorados) rises in the vicinity; it has been celebrated by an act of heroism not unexampled in the history of Spain during the middle ages, or even in modern times. A Christian knight had been taken prisoner by a Moorish prince; during his captivity he fell in love with the daughter of the infidel; resolved to celebrate their union in a Christian country, and at the foot of the altar, they had proceeded to the frontiers, when they were overtaken by the prince and his troops; they sought a hiding place in the caves of the mountain, but the enraged father ordered the soldiers to seize the fugitives. His daughter remonstrated that she was a Christian, that she had married, and threatened to destroy herself if he approached; but the father was inexorable, and the two lovers rushed headlong from the summit of a precipice. A cross indicates the place, and serves still to commemorate the event. The province of Grenada is divided into two nearly equal parts, the northern and the southern. The towns in the southern are either ports, or situated at a short distance from the sea. Almunacar, of which the harbour is sheltered from the east and west winds, stands at the foot of a hill, where are seen the remains of a citadel, that was used as a treasury by the Moorish kings, and also as a prison for their ambitious relatives. The country round Motril is fruitful in sugar cane, and according to the Spaniards, the rum extracted from it, is not inferior to any from the West Indies; the town may be about two leagues from the shore, it stands on a road that leads in one direction to Malaga, BOOK in the other to Almeria, a city that has been for ages wealthy CXXXIX. and industrious, occupying the site of Margis, a town of which the origin is lost in the night of time; the harbour which the ancients called Magnus Portus is still well frequented. Alhama. Loja situated at the base of a chain that bears its name, is noted for its salt springs. Alhama, of which the Arabic name signifies a thermal spring, stands higher above the level of the sea than any other town in Europe. The Moorish houses, the old walls that encompass it, and other peculiarities render it difficult of description. The country above it is covered with snow during six months, and scorched by the sun the rest of the year. The baths at a quarter of a league from the walls, are much frequented. The waters are thick, sulphureous and slightly coloured; the place from which the spring issues is arid and desert. When the rays of the sun fall on the water in the baths, it exhibits a singular appearance, in as much as it seems to be covered with an unctuous film; in cold weather vapours rise from it, and the pipes through which it flows are lined with a white and soft substance. The road to Veles Malaga extends along the mountains of Alhama, and the traveller observes a curious passage, the Puerta de Zaflaraya, a natural gate in the midst of high rocks; no sooner has he passed it, than very different scenery appears before him; the eye wanders over an immense extent of country, the southern declivities of the Betic range, the coasts of Grenada, the Mediterranean and the African shores. But the same road leads to an important town, a place fatal to the Moorish power in Spain. On the left bank of the Genil, and in a pleasant country, is situated the city of Santa Fe, which was almost destroyed by an earthquake in 1807. It was founded by the Castillian heroine, the wife of Ferdinand the catholic. During the siege of Grenada, the queen made a vow not to change her shift until the capital had opened its gates. To intimidate the enemy her camp was changed into a fortified town, and the town was called Santa Fe. The Moors fought long and valiantly, but it appeared at last that resistance was vain. It had been observed that the queen's shift had been so long worn that it assumed BOOK a yellow hue, hence the origin of what the Spaniards call to this day an Isabella colour. It was also within CXXXIX. the walls of Santa Fe that Ferdinand and Isabella aprov ed of the first expedition undertaken by Christopher Columbus. The walks on the banks of the Genil indicate the ap- Grenada. proach of Grenada,* through which the Daro flows; it is encompassed by woods, and watered by limpid streams, while the gardens and groves in the neighbouring heights diffuse fragance to a distance. The Sierra Morena may be about half a mile from the town, the summits are covered with eternal snow, but the cold of winter is never felt at the base. Grenada was founded by the Moors, the present state of the town may be contrasted with what it was in the time of its splendour. When the crescent floated on the mosques, it contained 400,000 inhabitants; it occupied a circumference of three leagues, which was defended by more than a thousand towers. It is still adorned with several fine buildings, there are two large squares, sixteen of a smaller size, many public fountains, seven colleges, eleven hospitals, an elegant theatre built by the French, and sixty-three churches, the most remarkable are the churches of San-Geromino, Santa-Cruz, San-Juan de Dios, and the cathedral in which are contained the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella, of Philip the First, and Queen Joan. But these edifices appear insignificant near others for which the people of Grenada are indebted to the genius and luxury of the Arabs. Charles the Fifth, during the "splendour of his power, erected in vain a palace which was to surpass in magnificence whatever had been constructed by the Moors; for in beholding this palace which was planned and executed while the arts were regenerating in Europe, one does not regret that it remains in an unfinished state, but that a part of the Alhambra was destroyed in order to obtain a convenient site. This edifice of Charles the Fifth, although a large, although adorned with porticos and the most costly marble, is infinitely inferior to the Moorish palace and fortress, in which the apparent fresh The Spaniards call it Granada. CXXXIX. BOOK ness of the ornaments, the galleries supported by light columns, the elegance of the courts, the arcades that surround them, indicate its superiority over the modern buildings in Grenada. Guadix. Province of The same town was the birthplace of the poet Hurtado de Mendoza, and of the jesuit Suarez, who has obtained a sad celebrity in the provincial letters of Pascal. At a short distance from the walls may be seen the site of Eliberis, a Roman town, where valuable antiquities have been discovered. Guadix, situated in a valley on the banks of the Rio Guadix, is the metropolis of a district; it was within its old walls that the Moors made a long and obstinate resistance after the conquest of the capital. It stands probably near the site of Acci, a Betic city, that it does so might be inferred from the ancient name without any other proof, for by prefixing the word gua, which signifies running water, the Arabs changed it into Guadiacci, and the Spaniards corrupted it into Guadix. The country round Baza abounds in hemp and lint, the town rises in a fruitful valley at the base of a mountain which bears its name; it was the ancient town of Basti, the capital of the Bastitani. Lastly, Huescar situated in the same district as Baza, and on the banks of the Barbato, carries on a trade in woollen stuffs; the village of Huescar la Vieja near its walls is all that remains of Osca, a place founded by the Carthaginians. Another province on the continent remains to be described, that of Murcia, formerly entitled a kingdom, and contiguous to Andalusia, New Castile and the province of Valencia. It does not extend beyond the basin of the Segura, it is divided into nine districts. Lorca, one of the most important towns in the province, is the ancient Eliocroca; its situation on the northern declivity of the Sierra del Cano, rendered the calamity that befel it in 1802, more disastrous. A reservoir in which the streams of the neighbouring torrents are collected, and which serves to supply the country people with water for the irrigation of their lands, burst suddenly, inundated all the lower part of the town, and destroyed more than six hundred persons together with a great number of BOOK cattle. The loss sustained by the inundation in the country and in the town was calculated at 50,000,000 reals. CXXXIX. Murcia, a wealthy and populous city, is situated in a plain watered by the Segura, the streams of which are confined by an embankment. The cathedral may be the finest edifice, but both the outside and the interior are loaded with ornaments; the others are the townhouse and the royal silk manufactory; the raw material with which the last is supplied, forms the principal wealth of the district. It appears from Roman inscriptions and other antiquities that Murcia was formerly called Vergilia. But Carthagena, the most important town in the province, both from its commerce and its port, which may contain forty ships of the line, and a great many small vessels, was founded by Asdrubal the Carthaginian. The territory in which it is situated, separated from that of Murcia by lofty heights, contained so many mines that it was long to the Romans what Mexico was afterwards to the Spaniards. They worked silver and different useful metals. A very large cavern, about three miles distant from the town, now called the cave of St. John, is nothing else than an ancient mine. The thermal springs in the neighbouring mountains are still frequented, and many labourers are employed in working alum.. Carthagena, perhaps the finest city in Spain, is defended by several forts along the coast, and also by the fort Atalaya on an eminence which commands the walls. The naval arsenal is very large, the yards, docks and rectangular basin occupy nearly the western half of the town. The cathedral or the most remarkable edifice is formed by three naves, and within them are contained several richly sculptured altars. The depth and size of the harbour in this chief town of a maritime department are not the only advantages which it furnishes to the Spanish navy. Ivica or Ibiza, one of the Baleares, at no great distance Baleares, from Carthagena, is still nearer the harbour of Denia: Iviza, the capital, stands on the declivity of a steep rock, which rises near a bay; on the summit of the same rock are the bishop's palace, the cathedral and the governor's castle. The town is encompassed with walls, which although they are no security against the attacks of pirates, |