The
Moslems of Barbary and Andalus considered it a talisman which
exercised a spell over the seas. Under its guidance, swarms of
piratical people of a nation, called Majus, appeared on the coast in
large vessels with a square sail in the bow, and another in the stern.
They came every six or seven years; captured every thing they met with
on the sea; guided by the statue, they passed through the Straits into
the Mediterranean, landed on the coasts of Andalus, laid every thing
waste with fire and sword; and sometimes carried their depredations on
the opposite coasts even as far as Syria.
At length, it came to pass in the time of the civil wars, a Moslem
Admiral who had taken possession of Cadiz, hearing that the statue
on top of the tower was of pure gold, had it lowered to the ground and
broken to pieces; when it proved to be of gilded brass. With the
destruction of the idol, the spell over the sea was at an end. From
that time forward, nothing more was seen of the piratical people of
the ocean, excepting that two of their barks were wrecked on the
coast, one at Marsu-l-Majus (the port of the Majus), the other close
to the promontory of Al-Aghan.
The maritime invaders mentioned by Al Makkari must have been the
Northmen.
Visitors to the Alhambra.
FOR NEARLY three months had I enjoyed undisturbed my dream of
sovereignty in the Alhambra: a longer term of quiet than had been
the lot of many of my predecessors.
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