s of doing either harm or good seemed
at an end.

While in this passive and helpless state his brother, El Zagal,
manifested a sudden anxiety for his health. He had him removed, with all
tenderness and care, to Salobrena, another fortress on the Mediterranean
coast, famous for its pure and salubrious air; and the alcayde, who was
a devoted adherent to El Zagal, was charged to have especial care that
nothing was wanting to the comfort and solace of his brother.

Salobrena was a small town, situated on a lofty and rocky hill in
the midst of a beautiful and fertile vega shut up on three sides
by mountains and opening on the fourth to the Mediterranean. It was
protected by strong walls and a powerful castle, and, being deemed
impregnable, was often used by the Moorish kings as a place of deposit
for their treasures. They were accustomed also to assign it as a
residence for such of their sons and brothers as might endanger the
security of their reign. Here the princes lived in luxurious repose:
they had delicious gardens, perfumed baths, a harem of beauties at their
command--nothing was denied them but the liberty to depart: that alone
was wanting to render this abode an earthly paradise.

Such was the delightful place appointed by El Zagal for the residence
of his brother, but, notwithstanding its wonderful salubrity, the old
monarch had not been removed thither many days before he expired. There
was nothing extraordinary in his death: life with him had long been
glimmering in the socket, and for some time past he might rather have
been numbered with the dead than with the living. The public, however,
are fond of seeing things in a sinister and mysterious point of view,
and there were many dark surmises as to the cause of this event. El
Zagal acted in a manner to heighten these suspicions: he caused the
treasures of his deceased brother to be packed on mules and brought
to Granada, where he took possession of them, to the exclusion of the
children of Abul Hassan. The sultana Zoraya and her two sons were lodged
in the Alhambra, in the Tower of Comares. This was a residence in a
palace, but it had proved a royal prison to the sultana Ayxa la Horra
and her youthful son Boabdil. There the unhappy Zoraya had time to
meditate upon the disappointment of all those ambitious schemes for
herself and children for which she had stained her conscience with so
many crimes.

The corpse of old Muley was also brought to Granada--not in