At length you see the mules slowly
winding along the cragged defile, sometimes descending precipitous
cliffs, so as to present themselves in full relief against the sky,
sometimes toiling up the deep arid chasms below you. As they approach,
you descry their gay decorations of worsted stuffs, tassels, and
saddle-cloths, while, as they pass by, the ever-ready trabuco, slung
behind the packs and saddles, gives a hint of the insecurity of the
road.
The ancient kingdom of Granada, into which we* were about to
penetrate, is one of the most mountainous regions of Spain. Vast
sierras, or chains of mountains, destitute of shrub or tree, and
mottled with variegated marbles and granites, elevate their sunburnt
summits against a deep-blue sky; yet in their rugged bosoms lie
ingulfed verdant and fertile valleys, where the desert and the
garden strive for mastery, and the very rock is, as it were, compelled
to yield the fig, the orange, and the citron, and to blossom with
the myrtle and the rose.
* Note to the Revised Edition.- The Author feels at liberty to
mention that his travelling companion was the Prince Dolgorouki, at
present Russian minister at the Court of Persia.
In the wild passes of these mountains the sight of walled towns
and villages, built like eagles' nests among the cliffs, and
surrounded by Moorish battlements, or of ruined watchtowers perched on
lofty peaks, carries the mind back to the chivalric days of
Christian and Moslem warfare, and to the romantic struggle for the
conquest of Granada.
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