n arch, of the horse-shoe form, which springs to half the height
of the tower. On the key-stone of this arch is engraven a gigantic
hand. Within the vestibule, on the key-stone of the portal, is
sculptured, in like manner, a gigantic key. Those who pretend to some
knowledge of Mahometan symbols, affirm that the hand is the emblem of
doctrine, and the key of faith; the latter, they add, was emblazoned
on the standard of the Moslems when they subdued Andalusia, in
opposition to the Christian emblem of the Cross. A different
explanation, however, was given by the legitimate son of the Alhambra,
and one more in unison with the notions of the common people, who
attach something of mystery and magic to every thing Moorish, and have
all kind of superstitions connected with this old Moslem fortress.

"According to Mateo, it was a tradition handed down from the oldest
inhabitants, and which he had from his father and grandfather,
that the hand and key were magical devices on which the fate of the
Alhambra depended. The Moorish King who built it was a great magician,
or, as some believed, had sold himself to the devil, and had laid
the whole fortress under a magic spell. By this means it had remained
standing for several hundred years, in defiance of storms and
earthquakes, while almost all other buildings of the Moors had fallen
to ruin, and disappeared. This spell, the tradition went on to say,
would last until the hand on the outer arch should reach down and
grasp the key, when the whole pile would tumble to pieces, and all the
treasures buried beneath it by the Moors would be revealed.

"Notwithstanding this ominous prediction, we ventured to pass through
the spell-bound gateway, feeling some little assurance against magic
art in the protection of the Virgin, a statue of whom we observed
above the portal.

"After passing through the barbican, we ascended a narrow lane,
winding between walls, and came on an open esplanade within the
fortress, called the Plaza de los Algibes, or Place of the Cisterns,
from great reservoirs which undermine it, cut in the living rock by
the Moors for the supply of the fortress. Here, also, is a well of
immense depth, furnishing the purest and coldest of water; another
monument of the delicate taste of the Moors, who were indefatigable in
their exertions to obtain that element in its crystal purity.

"In front of this esplanade is the splendid pile commenced by Charles
V., intended, it is said