King Ferdinand,
therefore, called off his troops, and returned in triumph to the ruins of
his camp, leaving the beautiful city of Granada wrapped in the smoke of
her fields and gardens and surrounded by the bodies of her slaughtered
children. Such was the last sally made by the Moors in defence of their
favorite city.

They now shut themselves up gloomily within their walls; there were no
longer any daring sallies from their gates. For a time they flattered
themselves with hopes that the late conflagration of the camp would
discourage the besiegers; that, as in former years, their invasion would
end with the summer, and that they would again withdraw before the
autumnal rains. The measures of Ferdinand and Isabella soon crushed these
hopes. They gave orders to build a regular city upon the site of their
camp, to convince the Moors that the siege was to endure until the
surrender of Granada. Nine of the principal cities of Spain were charged
with the stupendous undertaking; and they emulated each other with a zeal
worthy of the cause. To this city it was proposed to give the name of
Isabella, so dear to the army and the nation; but that pious Princess,
calling to mind the holy cause in which it was erected, gave it the name
of Santa Fe, or the "City of the Holy Faith," and it remains to this day
a monument of the piety and glory of the Catholic sovereigns.

In the mean time the besieged city began to suffer the distress of
famine. Its supplies were all cut off; a cavalcade of flocks and herds,
and mules laden with money, coming to the relief of the city from the
mountains of the Alpujarras[2], was taken by the Marquis of Cadiz and led
in triumph to the camp, in sight of the suffering Moors. Autumn arrived,
but the harvests had been swept from the face of the country; a rigorous
winter was approaching, and the city was almost destitute of provisions.
The people sank into deep despondency. They called to mind all that
had been predicted by astrologers at the birth of their ill-starred
sovereign, and all that had been foretold of the fate of Granada at the
time of the capture of Zahara.

Boabdil was alarmed by the gathering dangers from without and by the
clamors of his starving people. He summoned a council, composed of the
principal officers of the army, the alcaids of the fortresses, the
_xequis_ or sages of the city, and the _alfaquis_ or doctors of the
faith. They assembled in the great hall of audience of the Alhamb