The court is an oblong measuring 116 ft. by 66 ft. On each side is a peristyle or portico, and at either end a graceful pavilion with a fine dome. The supporting marble columns are 124 in number and 11 ft. high. They are placed irregularly, sometimes singly, sometimes in pairs--an arrangement which does nothing to mar the general impression of harmony. The arches exhibit a similar variety of curve, and spring from capitals decorated with rich foliage of various designs. The space above the arches is filled in with the usual arabesque work, and adorned with verses from the Koran. The ceilings of the porticos are enriched with delicate stucco work, and the walls are covered to a height of five feet with a dado of blue and yellow azulejos, bordered with blue and gold enamelled escutcheons bearing an Arabic motto on a bend. In the centre of the court is the fountain from which it derives its name. This is composed of two basins (in Moorish times there was but one) supported by twelve marble lions. These Arabian sculptures, remarks Ford, are rudely but heraldically carved, and closely resemble those to be seen supporting Norman-Saracenic tombs in Apulia and Calabria. “Their faces are barbecued, and their manes cut like the scales of a griffin, and their legs like bedposts, while a water pipe stuck in their mouths does not add to their dignity.” Indeed, the consolatory reminder contained in the tremendously long inscription round the basin, that there is nothing to be feared from these creatures, for “life is wanting to enable them to show their fury,” seems ludicrously unnecessary. As specimens of Arabian sculpture they are in all probability unique; the builders of the Alhambra were evidently not over-strict in the observance of their religion. The inscription referred to has been versified by Valera, and runs into forty-four lines of Castilian.