The Alhambra . e-minded Mateo aboutthis redoubtable phantom,which has^ in fact, been timeout of mind a favouritetheme of nursery tales andpopular tradition in Granada, .and of which honourablemention is made by an an-cient and learned historianand topographer of theplace. Leaving this eventful pile, we continued our course, skirtingthe fruitful orchards of the Generalife, in which two or threenightingales were pouring forth a rich strain of melody. marvellous details given by the 11^ ai^ % 3 j% ^ -^- Among the Hills. A RAMBLE AMONG THE HILLS 261 Behind these orchards we passed a number of Moor
The Alhambra . e-minded Mateo aboutthis redoubtable phantom,which has^ in fact, been timeout of mind a favouritetheme of nursery tales andpopular tradition in Granada, .and of which honourablemention is made by an an-cient and learned historianand topographer of theplace. Leaving this eventful pile, we continued our course, skirtingthe fruitful orchards of the Generalife, in which two or threenightingales were pouring forth a rich strain of melody. marvellous details given by the 11^ ai^ % 3 j% ^ -^- Among the Hills. A RAMBLE AMONG THE HILLS 261 Behind these orchards we passed a number of Moorish tanks,with a door cut into the rocky bosom of the hill, but closed tanks, Mateo informed me, were favourite bathing-placesof himself and his comrades in boyhood, until frightened awayby a story of a hideous ^loor, who used to issue forth from thedoor in the rock to entrap unwary bathers. Leaving these haunted tanks behind us, we pursued ourramble up a solitary mule-path winding among the hills, and. Frtiit/zd Orchards. soon found ourselves amidst wild and melancholy mountains,destitute of trees, and here and there tinted with scanty within sight was severe and sterile, and it was scarcelypossible to realise the idea that but a short distance behind uswas the Generalife, with its blooming orchards and terraced gar-dens, and that we were in the vicinity of delicious Granada,that city of groves and fountains. But such is the nature ofSpain ; wild and stern the moment it escapes from cultivation ;the desert and the garden are ever side by side. The narrow defile up which we were passing is called, accord- 262 THE ALIIAMBRA ing to Mateo, el Ba?-?-a?iiO de la tinaja, or the ravine of thejar, because a jar full of Moorish gold was found here in oldtime. The brain of poor ]\Iateo was continually running uponthese golden legends. But what is the meaning of the cross I see yonderupon a heap of stones, in that narrow part of the ravine ?
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondon, bookyear190
