CHOICE OF ROUTES BETWEEN MALAGA AND GRANADA--ROAD TO VELEZ
MALAGA--OBSERVATIONS ON THAT TOWN--CONTINUATION OF JOURNEY TO
GRANADA--FERTILE VALLEY OF THE RIVER VELEZ--VENTA OF
ALCAUCIN--ZAFARAYA MOUNTAINS--ALHAMA--DESCRIPTION OF THAT PLACE AND
OF ITS THERMAL BATHS--CACIN--VENTA OF HUELMA--SALT-PANS OF LA
MALA--FIRST VIEW OF GRANADA AND ITS VEGA--SITUATION OF THE
CITY--ITS SALUBRITY--ANCIENT NAMES--BECOMES THE CAPITAL OF THE LAST
MOSLEM KINGDOM OF SPAIN--FINE APPROACH TO THE MODERN CITY--IT IS
THE MOST PURELY MOORISH TOWN IN SPAIN--CAUSE OF THE DECADENCE OF
THE ARTS UNDER THE MOORS OF GRANADA, AND OF THE EASY CONQUEST OF
THE CITY--DESTRUCTION OF THE MOORISH LITERATURE ON THE CAPTURE OF
THE CITY BY THE SPANIARDS.
Several roads present themselves between Malaga and Granada, each (as
the Dover-packet skippers of the olden time were wont to say of their
vessels) possessing a peculiar claim to the traveller's preference.
One is good, but very long; another is short, but very bad; a third is
both circuitous and bad, but across a most interesting and picturesque
country. We made choice of this last, which proceeds by way of Velez,
Malaga, and Alhama.
Of the other two above-mentioned, the first is an excellent carriage
road, that is directed in the first instance upon Loxa, and will be
travelled over hereafter; the second (a mere mountain track) leaves the
coast at once, and proceeds straight to Alhama.
The distance from Malaga to Velez, although reckoned six leagues of
Spain, is only about eighteen English miles. For the greater part of the
way, the road is conducted along the Mediterranean shore; sometimes
ascending and crossing the low, rocky promontories by which the coast is
indented, but seldom stretching inland more than a quarter of a mile. It
is tolerably well kept, and is at all seasons passable for carriages.
The coast is rugged, and thickly set with towers and _casa
fuertes_,[129] but is marked by no picturesque features until arrived
within a short distance of Velez, when the road, turning away from the
sea-shore, enters a flat and verdant valley, wherein stands the old
town, shrouded in groves of orange and lemon trees, and backed by hills,
clad to their summits with vines. A fine stream, bearing the same name
as the town, serpentines through the valley, fertilizing it by a
deposit of rich soil, swept from the sides of the Sierras of Loxa and
Alhama. A kind of delta has thus been formed at the river's mouth,
stretching some way into the sea; so that Velez, which probably, in
former days, stood upon or near the coast, is now upwards of three miles
from it.
The town is slightly elevated above and on the left bank of the stream,
and is commanded by the neighbouring hills. The streets are wide, clean,
and well paved; but the thriving commerce, and abundant market,
naturally looked for in a place once so noted for the productiveness of
its orchards and extent of its export trade, are no longer to be seen;
and the number of inhabitants has either decreased very rapidly, or has
been greatly exaggerated of late years, when stated to amount to twelve
thousand souls.
There can be little doubt but that Velez is the town of Menoba,
mentioned both by Pliny and in the Itinerary of Antonius, though there
is a slight discrepancy in the two accounts; for, whilst both place
Menoba to the eastward of Malaca, the latter states the distance between
the two places to be only twelve Roman miles, and the former says it is
on a _river_. Now, there is no stream that can be called a "river"
between the two towns, excepting that of Velez itself, and it is full
eighteen _Roman_ miles from Malaga.
In the days of the Moslems, Velez was a place of considerable strength,
as well as commercial importance, and only fell into the hands of the
Spaniards in the spring of the same year that the "catholic kings"
possessed themselves of Malaga, A.D., 1487.
The investment of the fortress was attended with much risk to the army
of Ferdinand, which at one period of the siege was cut off from its
communications with the interior. The king himself also--for he
personally directed the operations against the beleaguered
city--incurred great danger in repulsing an attempt made by the Moors to
relieve the place; his life having been saved only by the devotedness of
his attendants. The armorial bearings of the town commemorate this
event.
We had been informed that the only thing for which Velez Malaga is at
the present day celebrated, is its breed of _fleas_; and certainly we
could not in this instance say, "_nunquam ad liquidum fama perducitur_;"
for never in my life--and one retains a lively recollection of these
matters--did I see a more active, nor feed a more insatiable race than
that which is perpetuated in the floors, walls, and bedding, of the
_Venta Nueva_. The camphor bags, with which, at the recommendation of
our Malaga friends, we had come provided, were thrown away as useless.
Nothing loth, we started for Alhama with the earliest day. The road
ascends very gradually along a fine, open, and highly cultivated valley,
all the way to the venta of Vinuela, distant about eight miles from
Velez. For the first few miles the road is good, but afterwards it is so
cut across by water channels as to offer serious impediments to quick
travelling; for these aqueducts are formed by high banks, composed of
mud and fascines, which, though bridged across and kept in good repair
during the winter season, when the mountain torrents come down with
great force, yet in summer are suffered to get out of order, and must,
therefore, be scrambled over as the traveller best can.
The valley is admirably irrigated, however, from other sources, and the
crops it produces are remarkably fine and very various. They consist of
fruits and vegetables of all sorts, maize, corn, and sugar-canes. On the
right hand, but at some distance, rises the lofty _Sierra de Tejeda_; on
the left are visible the rugged peaks of the mountains of Antequera;
whilst in front, the road continues to be directed towards the elevated
passes of Zafaraya, which serrate the great mountain-chain of Alhama.
About four miles beyond the venta of Vinuela--that is, twelve miles from
Velez, and half way between it and Alhama--is the venta of
Alcaucin.[130] Beyond this the ascent becomes much steeper, and the
road, reaching the summit of the mountain range, enters a narrow and
difficult pass, that soon shuts out the view of the sea. In exchange,
however, it opens to the north, into a lovely and singularly secluded
valley, which is walled in on all sides by barren and rugged tors, and
carpeted with the richest vegetation; and, proceeding a short distance
onwards, we were yet further gratified by obtaining an imposing view of
the famed _Sierra Nevada_.
The road from hence is tolerably good nearly all the way to Alhama,
which is not seen until one arrives immediately _over_ it. The descent
is abrupt and bad.
Alhama stands on the brink of a stupendous _tajo_, or fissure, through
which the river _Marchan_ forces its way towards the great plain of
Granada. Encompassed on all sides by wild, impracticable sierras, it
commands the only tolerable road that, for the distance of nearly forty
miles, presents itself to traverse the lofty mountain spine, which
stretches east and west, along the Mediterranean shore; that is to say,
the portion of this chain which extends between the pass of
Alfarnate--where the great road from Malaga to Loja crosses it; and the
sources of the river Durcal--round which winds the road from Almuñecar
to Granada.
From this circumstance, the Moors ever regarded this mountain fortress
as a place of first-rate importance, calling it, indeed, the key of
Granada; and it was not without reason they did so, since the fall,
first of Malaga, and then of their beloved city itself, was mainly
attributable to the capture of this place, by Don Rodrigo Ponce de Leon,
who took it by surprise, A.D., 1481.
Even in the present day, it is a formidable port; but artillery has now
been brought to such perfection, and is made to traverse such difficult
country, that its defenders would soon be buried beneath its ruins.
Alhama seems to occupy the site of the Roman town of Artigi, mentioned
by Pliny as one of the cities lying inland between the upper
Guadalquivír and the Mediterranean Sea. But no vestiges of walls of
greater antiquity than the time of the Moors are any where visible. Its
present name is evidently derived from the Arabic, _Al Hamman_ (the
Bath).
Besides the fame enjoyed by Alhama, from its bygone strength and
strategical importance--its numerous sieges and obstinate defences--the
place is in high repute from the curative properties of its thermal
springs; and it derives yet further celebrity from the various laurel
wreaths twined round it by the poets and romancers of all ages. The
translation of one of its plaintive legends has not been thought
unworthy even of the pen of Byron.[131]
Divest Alhama, however, of its historical recollections, of its hot
water, its poetry, and romance, and it is one of the dullest, dirtiest,
and most sultry towns of southern Spain. The streets are narrow, houses
poor, and churches and convents dilapidated.
It is supplied with water by means of an aqueduct, and the stream is
sufficiently abundant to keep it clean and sweet, but for some filthy
dyers; who first turn it to their own purpose, and then into the public
streets. Although so little ground in the vicinity of Alhama is
susceptible of cultivation, and the place contains but a few
inconsiderable manufactories of woollen clothes, yet the population is
said to amount to 10,000 souls. I have great doubts, however, whether it
would not be over-rated at half that number.
In the bottom of the fissure--which is 600 feet below the town--are
numerous picturesque water-mills; and, viewed from thence, Alhama
furnishes an excellent subject for the painter: The situation of the
crumbling old fortress is romantic; the sides of the hills rising behind
it are clad with vines, and their summits clothed with forest trees;
whilst beyond are seen the distant peaks of the Zafaraya passes.
The hot springs are about a mile from the town, on the left of the road
leading to Granada. The source which supplies the baths is very copious,
and its heat is about 110° of Fahrenheit. The water contains various
salts and a considerable quantity of sulphur, smells rather offensively,
and certainly does _not_ taste like chicken-broth, as some people
maintain that of Wiesbaden does; though, for my own part, I confess I
never could discover any chicken flavour in the scalding liquid of the
fashionable _koch brunnen_, unless it was of the eggs, from which, after
three weeks' incubation, the chickens had not been released.
The mineral water of Alhama has been found very efficacious in obstinate
cases of rheumatism, dyspepsia, and hypochondriasis, and is considered
infallible in the cure of gun-shot wounds. Its virtues were doubtless
known to the Romans; indeed, one of the baths is said (and appears) to
be, the work of that people. But the vaulted building which now encloses
the principal source is evidently of Moorish workmanship. The reservoir,
or bath, that first receives the beneficent stream, is built at the foot
of a scarped rock, from a narrow crevice in the face of which the
streaming water gushes, whilst the base of the same rock is washed by
the icy-cold current of the Marchan.
After visiting the baths, we returned to Alhama to pass the night--to
sleep I cannot say, since not an eye could any one of the party close,
during the half dozen tedious hours that, stretched on our cloaks,
(having very soon been driven from the wool-stuffed mattresses afforded
by the house) we lay alternately invoking Morpheus and Phoebus, and
exclaiming, "Woe is me, Alhama!"
We left the wretched _venta_ as soon as the light was sufficient to
enable us to follow the winding road down the steep side of the
mountain, and, reaching once more the bed of the Marchan, crossed to its
right bank, and took the road to Granada, by way of La Mala.
In about two hours we passed within gunshot of the village of Cacin,
leaving it on our left; and then, fording a stream of the same name
which runs towards the village, proceeded, by a villanously stony road,
over a very broken, but not mountainous country, to the solitary venta
of Huelma, which, though distant only about fifteen miles from Alhama,
took us four hours and a half to reach.
We were glad, and at the same time surprised, to find that the house,
miserable as its exterior bespoke it, could furnish materials for a
human breakfast, as well as a feed of barley for our famished horses; an
invigorator which the _mozo_ of the posada at Alhama had certainly
forgotten to give the poor animals at cock-crow, according to his
plighted word.
From the venta of Huelma to La Mala is six miles of very bad road, and
very uninteresting country. La Mala contains a royal salt manufactory,
and appears to be a thriving village. The water from which the salt is
extracted is pumped up from wells sunk in all directions round the
place, and is conducted by pipes and channels into extensive pans,
where, exposed to the action of the sun and air, the process of
evaporation is soon completed.
All the hills in the vicinity contain so much salt, that even the little
stream which runs through the village, and supplies its inhabitants with
this necessary of life, is strongly impregnated with it, and it is
difficult to procure drinkable water any where in the neighbourhood.
About two miles beyond La Mala (the road having reached the summit of a
hill of some height), the far-famed city, and its glorious _vega_--which
we had all the morning been looking for on gaining each succeeding
eminence--at length burst upon our impatient sight. It is a magnificent
view; though the city is at too great a distance (full seven miles) to
be a striking object in a prospect of such vast extent; and the
unvarying olive-green tint of the plain, and the total want of
(perceptible) water, give a sameness to the scene that somewhat
disappointed us. The mountains, too, that rise to the northward of the
Genil, dividing that river from the Guadalquiver, appeared tamely
outlined, after those we had so lately traversed.
On a nearer approach, however, Granada has an imposing appearance. Its
elevated citadels, hanging gardens, and wooded hills, form a fine
background to the shining city; and the splendid Sierra Nevada, which is
now again seen on the right, makes the picture almost perfect.
The descent is very gradual towards Gavia el Grande, which stands on the
edge of the plain--the road from thence to Granada being on a perfect
level. The luxuriance of the vegetation exceeds any thing I ever beheld.
The wheat, though not yet ready for the sickle, was upwards of seven
feet high, and the crops of flax, clover, &c. were gigantic in
proportion.
The whole plain, as we rode along, appeared to be one vast cultivated
field; and the want of water we had complained of, in looking down upon
the vega, was readily accounted for on observing the innumerable
irrigating channels into which the Genil and its various affluents are
directed, and in the distribution of which, the most rigid frugality is
perceptible. The plain is all watered "by the foot," as practised in the
East.
The city of Granada is situated at the eastern extremity of the
celebrated _vega_, where the golden Darro and the crystal Genil--long
pent in amongst the tortuous ravines of the _Sierra Nevada_--first pour
their fertilizing streams of melted snow upon the verdant plain.
The greater part of the city stands within the fork of the two rivers,
sheltered to the southward and eastward by the _Cerro de Santa Elena_--a
rugged hill, crowned by the lofty towers of the Alhambra--and connected
by several bridges with the other portion of the city, which extends
along the right bank of the Darro. This quarter, or _Barrio_, still
retains its ancient Moorish appellation, _Albaycin_, and is screened to
the north by a steep ridge, once crowned by another formidable castle,
but of which the ruined foundations alone remain to attest its strength
and magnitude.
Granada, whilst thus sheltered on three sides from the piercing blasts
that in winter sweep over the snowy summits of the _Sierra Nevada_, is
yet sufficiently elevated to command an extensive view over the fertile
_vega_, stretching far away to the west, and to receive the refreshing
breezes wafted from its perfumed orange groves. The climate,
consequently, is at all seasons delightful, and the shade of its
ever-verdant groves, and freshness of its inexhaustible springs, might
well be regretted by the sensual Moslems, driven from it to seek a
shelter on the parched shores of Africa.
The coins, monuments, inscriptions, and statues which have been
discovered here, leave no doubt that the Roman city of _Illiberris_
stood upon or near the site of the present city; though some antiquaries
have imagined they discovered in the name of the Sierra _Elvira_ that of
the ancient city.
The word Elvira, however, is merely a corruption of the Arabic words _Al
Beyrah_--the unprofitable--which is quite the character of the droughty
arid mountain in question; and as not a vestige of a town is to be met
with in its vicinity, it may fairly be concluded that so unlikely a site
was never selected for one.
Pliny calls the city "_Iliberi, which is also Liberini_;" the latter
name being apparently formed from that which it bore previously to the
arrival of the Romans in the country, namely, Liberia, a city founded,
according to the Spanish chronologists, 2000 years before the Christian
era. By the Goths the name was changed to Eliberi, as proved by numerous
coins of that people, yet extant. The last of these bears the date A.D.,
636, from which it may be inferred that the place had fallen to decay
prior to the irruption of the Saracens; particularly as little notice is
taken of it in the early annals of the Moors of Spain, under its new
name of Granada.
Florez conjectures--and I think not unreasonably--that the name Granada
may be derived from the Arabic words _Garb_, west; and _nata_, the name
of a mountain overlooking the city of Damascus, from whence came the
band of Arabs that conquered Eliberi. Thus, we may suppose, that on
first discovering it from the Sierra of Alhama, they designated it, from
a resemblance to the bright city and its splendid vale in their native
land, the western Nata.
The surpassing beauty of the wooded eminences overhanging the Darro and
Genil, not less than the delightful temperature and excessive fertility
of the outstretched _vega_, could not fail to have soon induced many of
such earthly paradise-seekers as the Mohammedans to settle there; and
doubtless, Granada, at an early date after the Saracenic conquest, again
became a large and populous city; though not until the power of the
crescent was on the wane; in fact, not until Cordoba and Valencia had
fallen to the Christians, and Seville was threatened with destruction,
did she assume a proud pre-eminence, by becoming the capital of the
diminished, though scarcely weakened, dominions of Mohammedan Spain.
The first great augmentation the city had received was occasioned by the
capture of the towns of Alhambra and Baeza, by Ferdinand III, (A.D.
1224) the inhabitants of which, driven to the southern side of the
Guadalquivír, sought shelter behind the rugged mountains of Jaen,
establishing themselves at Granada. The exiles of the former town there
built a fortress, overhanging the left bank of the Darro, to which they
gave the name of their regretted home; whilst those of the latter
erected an equally formidable citadel on the opposite side of the river,
which was called after them Al Bayzin, and eventually gave its name to
the large and populous district of the city that, in the course of a few
years, was clustered round its base.
The city, thus strengthened and augmented, was shortly afterwards (A.D.
1236) selected as the capital of a new kingdom, founded by Mohammed Abou
Said, or, as from the name of his family he is generally called,
Mohammed Alhamar;[132] and the throne continued in the family of that
prince until A.D. 1492, when Ferdinand and Isabella planted the cross
upon the towers of the Alhambra; a period of upwards of two centuries
and a half.
The new kingdom erected by Mohammed Alhamar might have presented as
impassable a barrier to the Christian arms as Turkey has offered, from
the conquest of Constantinople to the present day, had not anarchy and
dissension pervaded the other provinces of the Spanish peninsula, yet
subject to the Moslems. But, jealous of each other, and differing in
their views, they fell successively before the two enterprising
sovereigns who, at that period, occupied the thrones of Castile and
Aragon. Thus Cordoba, which had already ceded the pre-eminence to
Seville, fell, unaided, into the hands of the Castillian in the very
year that Granada became the capital of a formidable Mohammedan kingdom;
and Valencia, only two years later, was also finally added to the
conquests of the Christians. Even the city of Jaen, though fiercely
contested for by Mohammed Alhamar, was at last ceded by treaty to his
better-supported antagonist, _San Fernando_, who then, with consummate
policy, forming an alliance with the king of Granada, induced him to
assist in the subjugation of Seville.
This important city, which, a short time previously, had adopted a
Republican form of government, and, with democratic jealousy, had kept
aloof whilst the Christians were crippling the growing power of the
neighbouring kingdom of Granada, now reaped the fruits of its
short-sighted policy; being obliged, after a short but obstinate
struggle, to bend the neck to the Castillian yoke.
Murcia on one side, and Algarbe on the other, were soon afterwards
added to the conquests of the allied sovereigns of Castile and Aragon.
So that, before the first monarch of Granada had closed his reign, all
the Mohammedan states and cities, which had repudiated his alliance,
fell in detail to the Christian arms.
The kingdom of Mohammed Alhamar, which thenceforth had to contend
single-handed against the Christians, was respectable in size, though
but a fragment of the vast dominions of the Caliphs of the West. It
extended far beyond the limits of the modern kingdom of Granada, and
comprised all the mountainous portions of those of Jaen, Cordoba,
Seville, and Murcia; thus stretching along the sea-shore from Cape
Trafalgar to Cape de Gatte, and forming a compact and very defensible
territory.
Its population, too, was great beyond all proportion to its extent; the
inhabitants of the various cities captured by the Christians having, by
an inconceivable act of barbarity and impolicy, been driven from their
homes to seek shelter within the mountain-girt kingdom of Granada. So
enormous, indeed, is the amount of population said to have been, that
the Capital alone could furnish an army of 50,000 fighting men.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the Moors, thus concentrated,
should have been able to maintain their independence for so extended a
period; especially, when we consider the want of unanimity that
prevailed amongst the Christian princes, from the death of St. Ferdinand
until the union of the crowns of Castile and Aragon, in the persons of
Ferdinand V. and Isabella.
The city still covers a considerable extent of ground, though certainly
far less than it must have occupied when swarming with half a million
Mohammedans. The approach to it, on the Malaga side, is particularly
fine; a handsome stone bridge (built by the French during their
occupation of the province in the "war of independence") spans the
sparkling Genil--the _Singilis_ of the Romans. Immediately beyond this
bridge rise crenated walls, and terraced gardens, domes, minarets, and
shining steeples, reaching to the base of the dark rocks that bear the
yet darker towers of the proud Alhambra.
The precincts of the city gained, every thing bears the marks of Moslem
hands. The narrow streets and gushing fountains, the lofty, flat-roofed
houses, and heavy projecting balconies, are all quite oriental; whilst,
here and there, the entrance of some old mosque, or ruined bath, bears,
in its horse-shoe arch, the peculiar stamp of the Morisco.
Granada may certainly lay claim to the title of the _most Moorish_ city
of Spain. Some few, whose glories had passed away ere it rose to
distinction, may have surpassed it in wealth, extent, and even
population; and others were doubtless more distinguished for the
cultivation of those arts and sciences which were cherished with such
peculiar care by the Arabian conquerors of Spain. But, when the Moslem
rule was drawing towards its close, and Granada had to contend alone
with the Christians for existence, her monarchs, in their distress,
naturally turned for help to their uncivilized brethren of Mauritania;
and, as each fresh graft was taken from the original savage stock, the
character of the people of Granada became more decidedly Moorish; until,
at last, from the frequency of these calls, they came to differ but
little from the wild nomad tribes, whose assistance they had invoked.
At its commencement, however, the new kingdom founded on the ruins of
Cordoba, Seville, and Valencia, gave promise of reviving the brilliant
days of the early Mohammedans--its sovereigns of rivalling the fame of
the Abdalrahmans and Almanzors. The countless minarets of the renovated
city selected for its capital resounded with the _Muezzeem's_ cries,
awakening the dozing fanaticism of "the faithful;" and the bright
watch-tower[133] of its proud Alhambra served as a beacon to point out
where what remained of wealth and learning, in the wreck of Musa's
mighty empire, would find a safe place of refuge. But the crimes which
soon soiled the throne of Alhamar, the fierce contentions of the Princes
of the Royal house, and the interminable civil wars to which their
pretentions led, so exhausted Granada's strength, that, stripped one by
one of her bulwarks, cut off from external succour, and torn by
intestine dissension, she at length fell an easy prey to her persevering
enemies; and, at her fall, expired the flickering light of Mohammedan
civilization;--a civilization, which, considering the withering tendency
of the Arabian impostor's scheme of religion, furnishes much greater
cause for surprise, than even the rapid propagation and wide spread of
the pernicious creed itself.
The decadence of the arts kept pace with that in the manners of the
inhabitants of this fair region;--both being natural consequences of the
internal struggles by which it was agitated. The olive tree could not
thrive in soil moistened only with the blood of its cultivators.
During this period of progressive deterioration were erected most of the
Moslem buildings, whose remains are yet scattered throughout the city;
and, whilst in some points of character these monuments exhibit a marked
difference from the Arabian structures of the East, they are more purely
_Moorish_ than any other Saracenic edifices to be met with in Spain,
and are infinitely superior, in every respect, to such as were erected
in Barbary at a yet more recent date.
The literature of the Moors of Spain would doubtless have exhibited a
similar decadence and peculiarity of character; but on these points we
have not the means of judging, the fanatic destroyer of the celebrated
library of the Ptolemies having, seven centuries afterwards, found an
unworthy imitator in Cardinal Ximenes--at whose instigation every scrap
of Mohammedan literature found within the captured city of Granada was,
with intolerant fury, committed to the flames.