Of the minaret, once equal to the Giralda and, like it, once surmounted by great metal globes, only the lowest storey remains, an earthquake having thrown down the superstructure in the sixteenth century. And the famous Court of the Orange Trees, on to which the aisles at one time opened, has lost much of its charm. The trees are stunted and withered, and the soil covered with coarse grass and weeds. On three sides the court is surrounded by a gallery, on the fourth by the buildings of the chapter. The basin was placed here in 945 by Abd-ur-Rahman, and might with advantage be used for its original purpose by some of the habitués of the patio. Two Roman columns at the entrance to the Cathedral announce the distance to Gades (114 miles) from the Temple of Janus, which stood on this site. [Illustration: CORDOVA--OUTER WALL OF THE MOSQUE] On the whole the far-famed Mezquita may be pronounced disappointing. It must always be so with the simply planned temples of Islam, when they are stripped of the innumerable lamps, the rich carpets and handsome furniture, still to be seen in them at Cairo, Constantinople, and Smyrna. Of the magnificent Palace of the Khalifas, the wonderful domain of Az Zahara, no trace remains. It was built by a Byzantine architect on the flanks of a hill, three miles north-east of Cordova, which the khalifa at one time thought of levelling. Arab writers declare this to have been the largest palace, as of course it was the most magnificent, ever raised by the hand of man. The harem (_credat Judæus_) could accommodate 6,000 women, 3,790 eunuchs, and 1,500 guards. Marble appears to have been freely used in the construction, from which it would seem that the building bore little resemblance to the Alcazar of a later day. There were, of course, thousands--tens of thousands--of columns brought from Rome and Tunis, and probably from Carthage, and fine fragments of terra-cotta are still unearthed on the site. Aqueducts conducted sweet waters to every chamber in the palace, and fountains cooled the air in the luxuriantly planted gardens. We are told of the Hall of Ceremonial, with its brilliant mosaics and its ceiling of scented wood, in the centre of which was set an immense pearl, the gift of the Emperor Constantinos Porphyrogenitos. And we hear in addition of basins filled with quicksilver for the amusement of the odalisques.