inland Gibraltar, backed by the Sierra to the rear,
and crowning the river which brought ships from the ocean to its
wharves. The city's future was brilliant.

Matters changed soon, however. The Romans drew away much of its power to
cities further inland, as was their wont. The castle remained standing,
as did the walls, which reached on the northern shores of the river down
to Guardia, situated in the delta about thirty miles away. Remains of
the cyclopean walls which crown the mountain chain on the Spanish side
of the Mino are still to be seen to-day, yet they give but a feeble idea
of the city's former strength.

After the Romans had been defeated by the invasion of savage tribes from
the north, Tuy became the capital of the Suevos, a tribe opposed to the
Visigoths, who settled in the rest of Spain, and for centuries waged a
cruel war against the kings whose subjects had settled principally in
Galicia and in the north of Portugal.

The power of the Suevos, who were seated firmly in Tuy, was at last
completely broken, and the capital, its inhabitants fighting
energetically to the end, was at length conquered. It was the last
stronghold to fall into the hands of the conquerors. A century later
Witiza, the sovereign of the Visigoths, made Tuy his capital for some
length of time, and the district round about is full of the traditions
of the doings of this monarch. Most of these legends denigrate his
character, and make him appear cruel, wilful, and false. One of them,
concerning Duke Favila and Dona Luz, is perhaps the most popular.
According to it, Witiza fell in love with the former's wife, Dona Luz,
and, to remove the husband, he heartlessly had his eyes put out, on the
charge of being ambitious, and of having conspired against the throne.
The fate that awaited Dona Luz, who defended her honour, was no better,
according to this legend.

After the return of Witiza to Toledo, the city slowly lost its
importance, and since then she has never recovered her ancient fame.

Like the remaining seaports of Galicia,--or such cities as were situated
near the ocean,--Tuy was sacked and pillaged by Arabs and vikings alike.
The times were extremely warlike, and Galicia, from her position, and on
account of the independent spirit of the noblemen, was called upon to
suffer more than any other region, and Tuy, near the ocean, and a
frontier town to boot, underwent greater hardships than any other
Galician city. Of an admirable na