I
Should Certainly Not Have Gone Of My Own Accord, For The Hill On
Which It Stands Is Steep." And Yet This Man Could Compose Verses,
And Was By No Means A Contemptible Poet.
Once at Cordova, whilst I
was in the cathedral, three Moors entered it, and proceeded slowly
across its floor
In the direction of a gate, which stood at the
opposite side; they took no farther notice of what was around them
than by slightly glancing once or twice at the pillars, one of them
exclaiming, "Huaije del Mselmeen, huaije del Mselmeen" (things of
the Moors, things of the Moors); and showed no other respect for
the place where Abderrahman the Magnificent prostrated himself of
old, than facing about on arriving at the farther door and making
their egress backwards; yet these men were hajis and talebs, men
likewise of much gold and silver, men who had read, who had
travelled, who had seen Mecca, and the great city of Negroland.
I remained in Cordova much longer than I had originally intended,
owing to the accounts which I was continually hearing of the unsafe
state of the roads to Madrid. I soon ransacked every nook and
cranny of this ancient town, formed various acquaintances amongst
the populace, which is my general practice on arriving at a strange
place. I more than once ascended the side of the Sierra Morena, in
which excursions I was accompanied by the son of my host, - the tall
lad of whom I have already spoken.
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