[90] Swinburne fell into a comical error concerning these. "In the centre of the court are twelve ill-made lions _muzzled_, their fore-parts smooth, their hind-parts rough, which bear upon their backs an enormous bason, out of which a lesser rises."--_Travels through Spain_, p. 180. This little bronze lion measures about twelve inches high by fourteen inches long. The legs and part of the body are covered with a pattern representing flowers. The mane is described by comma-shaped marks. The tail, bent not ungracefully along the animal's back, is decorated with a kind of plait through nearly all its length. The eyes are now two cavities, but seem in other days to have contained two coloured stones or gems. Upon the back and flanks is a Cufic inscription which says, "_Perfect blessing. Complete happiness._" [Illustration: XXXI BRONZE STAG (_Moorish. Museum of Cordova._)] Mussulman historians have described, in terms of cloying praise, the "red gold animals contrived with subtle skill and spread with precious stones" which Abderrahman placed at Cordova upon the fountains of his palaces. "Rivers of water issued from the mouth of every animal, and fell into a jasper basin." The words "red gold" are patently an oriental term for bronze. In view of this, and of the fact that the lion of Palencia is hollow-bellied, with his mouth wide open for ejecting water, and with a tail of cunning craftsmanship, which would avail, on being rotated, to produce or check the current of the "liquid crystal," we may conclude that it was intended both to form a part of, and to decorate a Moorish fountain of old days, and is the kind of beast "with precious stones for eyes" so often and so ecstatically lauded by the Muslim writers. Similar to the foregoing object, and dating from about the same period, is a small bronze stag (Pl. xxxi.) in the provincial museum of Cordova. It is believed to proceed originally from the famous palace (tenth century) of Az-zahra, and used to be kept, some centuries ago, in the convent of San Jerónimo de Valparaiso.