It was not, however, by the peaceable arts of diplomacy alone that additions were made to the empire of Yusuf. In the west, Badajoz, repeatedly captured and retaken by Christian and Moslem, was occupied by his troops. At the head of a column of several thousand cavalry he ravaged the valley of the Tagus as far as the suburbs of Toledo. The border stronghold of Alcantara, long vaunted as impregnable, submitted to his arms. Nor was it on account of his military exploits that the name of Yusuf has been transmitted to the admiration of posterity. Although he passed but a year in the most enchanting of Andalusian cities, the evidences of his presence are to-day the principal, almost the sole, attractions of that beautiful capital. The memory of his genius and munificence have been perpetuated by the erection of quays, palaces, towers, whose stupendous dimensions are now the wonder of the modern engineer, and of mosques whose minarets were once incomparable models of architectural symmetry and elegance. He repaired and enlarged the Roman aqueduct, which still conducts from the springs of Alcalá the purest water for the use of Seville. He spanned the Guadalquivir with a bridge of boats, the counterpart and predecessor of the one which until within a century united the opposite banks of that broad and rapid stream. Its inundations, which had previously damaged property and imperilled life, were partially controlled by the construction of gigantic walls, which arrested the destructive torrent and turned it again into its proper channel. These structures served as quays, which, approached from the river-side by broad and easy stairways, greatly facilitated the unloading and shipment of merchandise. Near at hand were warehouses and magazines designed and erected by Yusuf, and whose convenience and capacity were not surpassed by those of any Mediterranean seaport. The defences of the city also claimed the attention of this wise and indefatigable monarch, whose care and vigilance no detail, however insignificant, seemed to escape. The ancient walls were repaired and new ones constructed. Numerous towers were added to command the river, among them the peculiar one now known as the Tower of Gold, where was once kept the royal treasure. In the heart of the city, and on the site of an ancient Christian church, a great mosque was founded. The plan was a rectangle of four hundred and fourteen by two hundred and seventy feet, and, although it could not in justice be considered a rival of that noble edifice, it was in many respects not far inferior to the peerless Djalma of Cordova. Its walls were fringed with Persian battlements and painted with many colors. Its arcades looked upon a court supplied with ever-murmuring fountains and fragrant with the odor of orange blossoms. Its hundreds of marble columns suggested the spoliation of many a Pagan temple. The ceiling was formed by domes of wood and stucco, whose geometrical patterns