There is a tradition that the palace was built by Bàdìs Ibn Hàbus, the third Sultàn of Granada of the Zeyrite dynasty, about 1070 A.D., by whose direction a vane was made in the
[Illustration: THE ACEQUIA COURT, IN THE GENERALIFE.]
[Illustration: THE ACEQUIA COURT IN THE GENERALIFE, FROM THE MAIN ENTRANCE.]
[Illustration: THE ACEQUIA COURT IN THE GENERALIFE.]
[Illustration: A CORNER OF THE ACEQUIA COURT IN THE GENERALIFE.] [Illustration: CYPRESS COURT IN THE GENERALIFE.]
[Illustration: GALLERY OF THE ACEQUIA COURT IN THE GENERALIFE.]
shape of a warrior mounted on a steed, with a shield and levelled spear in his hands. _Al-makkarì_ tells us that he read in the manuscript of a learned Moorish historian the following anecdote concerning it: “I was told by the _Faquih Sìdì Hasan_ ... that he was present at the taking down of the talisman, known as the weather-cock, which once stood on the top of the old _Kassabah_--fortified enclosure--at Granada, and was removed on account of the improvements and repairs about to be made in that building. I saw it with my own eyes; it was of heptagonal shape, and bore the following Arabic inscription in verse:
“The palace at fair Granada presents to the eye of the observer a talisman turning round with the succession of time.
“The horseman on its weather-cock, although a solid body, turns with every wind.
“This to the wise man, reveals many a mystery.
“Indeed, after subsisting a short time, a calamity shall come which shall ruin both the palace and its owner.
The archway-entrance to the _Casa del Carbon_ is very richly decorated, as may be seen by the illustration at p. 443, but the interior has been greatly interfered with and disfigured. Below, is a subterranean passage, said to communicate with the Alhambra; but the Duke d’Abrantes, who owned the _Casa_, regarded such means of communication as “uncanny,” and blocked up the passage. An inspection of the Arabic title-deeds to this interesting property, which are still extant, would amply repay the pains of conveyancing amateurs.
La Casa Sanchez, so-called from having been the dwelling of an honest muleteer of that name, was once one of the most picturesque and most Moorish of dwellings. But, alas! in the year 1837, the whole front was “restored” and “beautified,” and an ancient fish-pond, similar to that of the Court of Myrtles, was filled up and converted into a garden by one of the resident officers of the Palace. The ruthless _empleado_, who caused the Moorish doors of the Hall of the Abencerrages to be sawn asunder, permitted also this outrage by a man of equal