It had its
name from a vizier of Abdallah, grandson of Aben Habuz, and Sultan
of Granada. Under the administration of this vizier many of the
noblest public works were executed. He constructed an aqueduct by
which water was brought from the mountains of Alfacar to irrigate
the hills and orchards north of the city. He planted a public walk
with cypress-trees, and "made delicious gardens for the solace of
the melancholy Moors." "The name of Maumal," says Alcantara, "ought to
be preserved in Granada in letters of gold." Perhaps it is as well
preserved by being associated with the garden he planted; and by being
mentioned in the verses of Hafsah. How often does a casual word from a
poet confer immortality!
Perhaps the reader may be curious to learn something of the story of
Hafsah and her lover, thus connected with one of the beautiful
localities of Granada. The following are all the particulars I have
been able to rescue out of the darkness and oblivion which have
settled upon the brightest names and geniuses of Moslem Spain:
Ahmed and Hafsah flourished in the sixth century of the Hegira,
the twelfth of the Christian Era. Ahmed was the son of the Alcayde
of Alcala la Real. His father designed him for public and military
life and would have made him his lieutenant; but the youth was of a
poetical temperament, and preferred a life of lettered ease in the
delightful abodes of Granada.
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