LA CASA DEL CARBON—THE CHARCOAL HOUSE.
Halfway down the Zacatin, which was, in Moorish times, the bazaar, or market, of Granada—then alive with busy silversmiths, and with silk merchants, who offered the most wondrous productions of the loom—stands whatever remains of the elegant palace known as the Charcoal House, from having been appropriated to the sale of that commonplace article. The edifice, until recent times, bore the name by which it had been known for centuries, viz.: La Casa del Gallo de Viento—The Weather-cock House.
There is a tradition that the palace was built by Bàdìs Ibn Hàbus, the third Sultàn of Granada of the Zeyrite dynasty, about 1070 A.D., by whose direction a vane was made in the
THE ACEQUIA COURT, IN THE GENERALIFE.
THE ACEQUIA COURT IN THE GENERALIFE, FROM THE MAIN ENTRANCE.
THE ACEQUIA COURT IN THE GENERALIFE.
A CORNER OF THE ACEQUIA COURT IN THE GENERALIFE.
CYPRESS COURT IN THE GENERALIFE.
GALLERY OF THE ACEQUIA COURT IN THE GENERALIFE.
shape of a warrior mounted on a steed, with a shield and levelled spear in his hands. Al-makkarì tells us that he read in the manuscript of a learned Moorish historian the following anecdote concerning it: “I was told by the Faquih Sìdì Hasan ... that he was present at the taking down of the talisman, known as the weather-cock, which once stood on the top of the old Kassabah—fortified enclosure—at Granada, and was removed on account of the improvements and repairs about to be made in that building. I saw it with my own eyes; it was of heptagonal shape, and bore the following Arabic inscription in verse:
“The palace at fair Granada presents to the eye of the observer a talisman turning round with the succession of time.
“The horseman on its weather-cock, although a solid body, turns with every wind.
“This to the wise man, reveals many a mystery.
“Indeed, after subsisting a short time, a calamity shall come which shall ruin both the palace and its owner.
“Thus shall Andalus vanish one day!”
The archway-entrance to the Casa del Carbon is very richly decorated, as may be seen by the illustration at p. 443, but the interior has been greatly interfered with and disfigured. Below, is a subterranean passage, said to communicate with the Alhambra; but the Duke d’Abrantes, who owned the Casa, regarded such means of communication as “uncanny,” and blocked up the passage. An inspection of the Arabic title-deeds to this interesting property, which are still extant, would amply repay the pains of conveyancing amateurs.