the ground to the
ceiling, and dividing it into three portions, the centre one forming the
passage which leads from the entrance to the principal court. Several of
the apartments are thus injured, owing to the palace being occasionally
used as a temporary lodging for the court. Passing across the degraded
hall, a magnificent embroidered arch--for the carving with which it is
covered more resembles embroidery than any other ornament--gives access
to the great court.

It is difficult to ascertain what portion of this palace belongs to the
residence of the Moorish Kings, as Pedro the Cruel had a considerable
portion of it rebuilt by Moorish architects in the same style. The still
more recent additions are easily distinguished. One of them, in this
part of the edifice, is a gallery, erected by Charles the Fifth, over
the arcades of the great court. This gallery one would imagine to have
been there placed with a view to demonstrate the superiority of Arab art
over every other. It is conceived in the most elegant Italian style, and
executed in white marble; but, compared with the fairy arcades which
support it, it is clumsiness itself. The court is paved with white
marble slabs, and contains in the centre a small basin of the same
material, of chaste and simple form, once a fountain. The arcades are
supported on pairs of columns, measuring about twelve diameters in
height, and of equal diameter throughout. The capitals are in imitation
of the Corinthian. The entire walls, over and round the arches, are
covered with deep tracery in stucco; the design of which consists of
diamond-shaped compartments, formed by lines descending from the
cornice, and intersecting each other diagonally. These are indented in
small curves, four to each side of the diamond. In each centre is a
shell, surrounded by fanciful ornaments. The same design is repeated on
the inside of the walls, that is, under the arcade, but only on the
outer wall; and this portion of the court is covered with a
richly-ornamented ceiling of Alerce, in the manner called _artesonado_.

On the opposite side of the court to that on which we entered, another
semicircular arch, of equal richness, leads to a room extending the
whole length of the court, and similar in form to that situated at the
entrance, possessing also an ornamental ceiling, but plainer walls. The
left and right sides of the court are shorter than the others. In the
centre of the left side, a deep alcove is