At present you see none but a few
loitering monks there, and a group of water-carriers. The latter are
burdened with water jars of ancient Oriental construction, such as
were used by the Moors. They have been filled at the cold and limpid
spring called the fountain of Avellanos. Yon mountain path leads to
the fountain, a favorite resort of Moslems as well as Christians;
for this is said to be the Adinamar (Aynu-l-adamar), the "Fountain
of Tears," mentioned by Ibn Batuta the traveller, and celebrated in
the histories and romances of the Moors.
You start! 'tis nothing but a hawk that we have frightened from
his nest. This old tower is a complete breeding-place for vagrant
birds; the swallow and martlet abound in every chink and cranny, and
circle about it the whole day long; while at night, when all other
birds have gone to rest, the moping owl comes out of its
lurking-place, and utters its boding cry from the battlements. See how
the hawk we have dislodged sweeps away below us, skimming over the
tops of the trees, and sailing up to the ruins above the Generalife!
I see you raise your eyes to the snowy summit of yon pile of
mountains, shining like a white summer cloud in the blue sky. It is
the Sierra Nevada, the pride and delight of Granada; the source of her
cooling breezes and perpetual verdure; of her gushing fountains and
perennial streams. It is this glorious pile of mountains which gives
to Granada that combination of delights so rare in a southern city:
the fresh vegetation and temperate airs of a northern climate, with
the vivifying ardor of a tropical sun, and the cloudless azure of a
southern sky.
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