[Illustration: XXI "ELIJAH SLEEPING" (_Statue in wood, by Alonso Cano_)] I have said that the decoration of these ceilings is sometimes floral, sometimes geometrical, sometimes a combination of the two.[37] Sometimes the wood is plain, or sometimes silvered, gilt, or painted. Sometimes it is employed alone, or sometimes variegated and inlaid with plaster points and patches. By far the commonest motive is the _lazo_--an ornamental scheme composed of infinite strips that turn, and twist, and intersect, describing in their mazy passage many polygons. One of these polygons determines, in a way, the scheme of the entire ceiling, which is denominated as consisting of "a _lazo_ of eight," "of ten," "of twelve," etc., from this particular. The most attractive and most frequent is the scheme "of eight." Among the decorative details used to brighten and enhance the _lazo_ proper are _mocarabes_ or wooden lacery for relieving cubes and joists or surfaces, and _rácimos_ or "clusters"; that is, hollow or solid wooden cones or prisms, disposed along the side and centre panels of the ceiling like (in Arenas' ingenious phrase) the buttons on a jacket, and contributing to the massive aspect of the whole. These clusters, too, were sometimes in the stalactite and sometimes in a simpler form, and show, both in the quantity and richness of their ornament, a limitless diversity. [37] This mingled decoration is extremely common; and may be studied in our country, in the carved panels at South Kensington which are believed to proceed from the pulpit of the mosque of Kusun; or in the thirteenth-century panels of the tomb of Es-salih Ayyub. [Illustration: XXII SAINT BRUNO (_By Alonso Cano. Cartuja of Granada_)]