“The ceiling of the Hall of the Barque,” says Owen Jones, “is a wagon-headed dome of wood, of the most elaborate patterns, receiving its support from pendentives of mathematical construction so curious, that they may be rendered susceptible of combinations as various as the melodies which may be produced from the seven notes of the musical scale; attesting the wonderful power and effect obtained by the repetition of the most simple elements.” Alas! it must be added that this beautiful Hall was greatly injured by a fire, which took place in September, 1890. SALA DE LOS EMBAJADORES--HALL OF AMBASSADORS. After traversing the Hall of the Barque, we come upon the Hall of Ambassadors--the Golden Saloon--with a dome which bursts like a flower-bell upon the sight. The most [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE HALL OF THE BARQUE, WITH VIEW OF THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND, OR OF THE MYRTLES.] beautiful thing about these Moorish domes is, not their grand poise and balance, but the airiness of them. They seem mere resting clouds swelling round you and canopying you with colour. You have no sense of their weight or means of permanency. The stalactite ornament, as it is called, seems fashioned in emulous rivalry of golden-celled honeycomb, in which honey still rests; honey, dyed by the juices of the flowers from which it has been drawn. The walls are like the leaves of illuminated missals, framed by cornices of poem and prayer. [Illustration: THE HALL OF AMBASSADORS.] The Hall of Ambassadors is a square of thirty-seven feet, and is sixty feet high from the floor to the centre of the dome. It is the largest, as well as the most imposing of the Halls of the Alhambra, though in arrangement and symmetry of details less perfect than the Hall of The Two Sisters. Inscriptions of verses from the Koràn abound amongst the decorations. The present ceiling of the Hall of the Ambassadors is a dome of wood, ornamented by ribs intersecting each other in various patterns in gold, on grounds of blue and red. The ceiling is ingenious in construction and beautiful in detail. Owen Jones thinks that an arch of brick was originally thrown across the hall, which gave way after the completion of the building, carrying with it an earlier ceiling, which was afterwards replaced by the present dome. In the centre divan, on the north side of the Hall, there is [Illustration: MOSAIC IN DADO, HALL OF AMBASSADORS.] a most beautiful Mosaic dado, as perfect as when originally executed, and which seems to be imperishable. It is formed of baked clay, squeezed into moulds of the different figures, glazed on the surface, and bevelled slightly on the edge. Thus, when necessary, the Mosaics were not only easily withdrawn from the moulds, but, when united, they formed a key for the mortar. In this particular recess, doubtless, was the throne of [Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF THE HALL OF AMBASSADORS.] [Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF THE HALL OF AMBASSADORS.]