And here it must be noted that the Alhambra is a fortress following on round the crown of a broad hill rising over Granada, and is entirely formed of fortified walls and innumerable Moorish towers of extraordinary solidity and various sizes, covering a vast platform divided into arcaded courts of exquisite beauty, and that there is no solid building at all, but lovely suites of halls following on, formed to the taste of an Oriental people living in the open air. * * * * * Don Juan is received with much formal courtesy in the court of the Alberca--where the water cisterns are guarded by low hedges of sweet shrubs--by the sheikhs and emirs attending on the king, a glittering band of dark-visaged eunuchs. By them Don Juan _alone_ is led to the tower of Comares, through marvellously worked arches dropping with golden stalactites, a vista of vestibules of scarcely earthly beauty, panelled and embroidered in patterns of roses, bosses, emblems, borders, and arabesques all in pale Oriental shades of red, green, and blue; a scene of enchantment utterly bewildering to the simple mind of the Castilian knight. Then under more snowy arches, set with filigree edges, as of gems, into the Hall of the Ambassadors, glowing with gold and deep azure, with open-pillared balconies overhanging the precipitous banks of the Darro, giving a glimpse of outer splendour to the sombre walls, to prepare the mind of the stranger for the awful presence of Muley Hassan, seated upon a golden throne, inclosed by screens and hangings of jewelled embroideries fringed with pearls. Gold and silver tissues lie at his feet, and at his back a divan of dark heads, dazzling white turbans, and plumed casques with trembling gems; a vaulted _artesonado_ dome over his head radiant with stars scintillating in a ground of crystal and tortoise-shell. As the good knight, nothing daunted, stands forth in glittering armour, before the old king, under a battery of hostile eyes, he speaks his message in a loud, clear voice: “I come, O Caliph of Granada! from the sovereigns of Castile and Aragon, to demand the tribute due, for the permission to occupy the land of Spain, conquered from your ancestors by San Fernando of Castile!” As he listens, a bitter smile curls Muley’s bearded lips, and his hand seeks the handle of a jewelled dagger at his side. “Tell the Spanish rulers,” he says, in a voice tremulous with passion, “that the sovereigns of Granada who paid tribute are all dead. My mint coins nothing but dagger-blades and lances!” * * * * * War--bitter war--spoke in these words. Nor did the haughty bearing of the turbaned court belie the sign. So Don Juan accepted it, but he was too discreet a knight to permit this impression to influence the lofty courtesy of his departure, as, with fitting salutations, he returned, filled with amazement at all the wonders he had seen.