rely that people were there assembled to see boys dance and
to listen to their singing--is more picturesque than probable.
Rather does it seem analogous with the leaping of David the King
before the Ark of Jehovah, when he danced before the Lord with all
his might, girt with a linen Ephod; and this, if I may hazard an
opinion, was with a view to amuse a deity apt to be bored or
languid, just as Nautch girls dance to this day before the idols of
the Hindus, and tops are spun before Krishna to divert him.

XIX

[Sidenote: The Giralda]

The Christian bells rang joyfully from the Moorish tower, the great old
bells christened with holy oil, _el Cantor_ the Singer, _la Gorda_ the
Great, _San Miguel_. I climbed the winding passage till I came to the
terrace where stood the ringers, and as they pulled their ropes the
bells swung round on their axles, completing a circle, with deafening
clamour. The din was terrific, so that the solid masonry appeared to
shake, and I felt the vibrations of the surrounding air. It was a
strange sensation to shout as loud as possible and hear no sound issue
from my mouth.

The Giralda, with its Moorish base and its Christian belfry, is a symbol
of Andalusia. There is in the Ayuntamiento an old picture of the Minaret
built by Djabir the Moor, nearly one hundred feet shorter than the
completed tower, but surmounted by a battlemented platform on which are
huge brazen balls and an iron standard. These were overthrown by an
earthquake, and later, when the discoveries of Christopher Columbus had
poured unmeasured riches into Seville, the Chapter commissioned Hernan
Ruiz to add a belfry to the Moorish base. Hernan Ruiz nearly ruined the
mosque at Cordova, but here he was entirely successful. Indeed it is
extraordinary that the two parts should be joined in such admirable
harmony. It is impossible to give in words an idea of the slender grace
of the Giralda, it does not look a thing of bricks and mortar, it is so
straight and light that it reminds one vaguely of some beautiful human
thing. The great height is astonishing, there is no buttress or
projection to break the very long straight line as it rises, with a kind
of breathless speed, to the belfry platform. And then the renaissance
building begins, ascending still more, a sort of filigree work,
excessively rich, and elegant beyond all praise. It is surmounted by a
female figure of bronze, representing Fai