“The Riéra is seen flowing beneath the bridge that leads from the gate of Santa Catalina to the suburb of the same name.”
(page [9])
A wide thoroughfare divides the town into the upper and lower Villas, and starting from the harbour, takes a right angle near the Grand Hotel and makes its exit through the Porte Jésus in the north-west walls. This is the principal artery of the town, and was originally—like the Rambla of many another Spanish city—the bed by which the river found its way to the sea; but in the year 1403 a disastrous flood, causing the loss of hundreds of houses and lives, so alarmed the inhabitants that the river was turned from its course and conducted into the moat that surrounds the town. Spanish rivers are proverbial for their lack of water, and it is difficult to credit the Riéra—which in its normal state suggests nothing more dangerous than a gravel pit after rain—with such powers of destruction in bygone days.
The gigantic scale of Palma’s encircling fortifications may perhaps best be realised by a glance at the accompanying picture, where the Riéra is seen flowing beneath the bridge that leads from the gate of Santa Catalina to the suburb of the same name.
The fortifications date from very different periods. The completed design of moat and rampart as it now stands was originated in the sixteenth century and only finished a hundred years ago; but remains of the old Moorish defences still exist, though they suffered severely in the great siege of 1229, and were strengthened and largely rebuilt by the Spanish conquerors.
A picturesque gateway on the north of the town, now called Santa Margarita, but dubbed by the Moors the Gate of the Christians, is pointed out as having been the one by which Don Jaime made his triumphant entry into Palma. This gateway, like the other survivals of the ancient fortifications, stands some way within the Muralla of the present day, which encompasses the town as with a raised highway—one might almost say a common, so incredibly vast are the earthworks within the walls. Hither the townsfolk ascend at evening to enjoy the sea breeze and the glorious view over land and sea. Cows graze peacefully along the ramparts, surrounded by children at play; and wheeling flights of pigeons execute aerial manœuvres overhead, while squads of new recruits march unendingly backwards and forwards from morning to night in the dry bed of the moat below, and the bastions re-echo the sharp words of command.
The moat on the eastern side is devoted to rope-making, and there men are seen walking backwards all day long, spinning as they go, and the dull thud of heavy mallets is heard as they beat out the bundles of esparto grass.