nded to that of the
ancient French _mayors of the palace_, introduced the ambassadors. They
prostrated themselves before Abderamus in amazement at the splendour of
this array, and presented to the Moorish sovereign the letter of
Constantine, written on blue parchment and enclosed in a box of gold.
The caliph signed the treaty, loaded the imperial messengers with
presents, and ordered that a numerous suite should accompany them even to
the walls of Constantinople.

Abderamus III., though unceasingly occupied either by war or politics,
was all his life enamoured of one of his wives named Zahra.[11] He built
a city for her two miles distant from Cordova, which he named Zahra.

This place is now destroyed. It was situated {66} at the base of a high
mountain, from which flowed numerous perpetual streams, whose waters ran
in all directions through the streets of the city, diffusing health and
coolness in their course, and forming ever-flowing fountains in the
centre of the public places. The houses, each built after the same
model, were surmounted by terraces and surrounded by gardens adorned with
groves of orange, laurel, and lime, and in which the myrtle, the rose,
and the jasmine mingled in pleasing confusion with all the varied
productions of that sunny and delicious clime. The statue of the
beautiful Zahra[12] was conspicuously placed over the principal gate of
this City of Love.

But the attractions of the city were totally eclipsed by those of the
fairy-like palace of the favourite. Abderamus, as the ally of their
Imperial master, demanded the assistance of the most accomplished of the
Greek architects; and the sovereign of Constantinople, which was at that
time the chosen home of the fine arts, eagerly complied with his desires,
and sent the caliph, in addition, forty columns of granite of the rarest
and most beautiful workmanship. Independent {67} of these magnificent
columns, there were employed in the construction of this palace more than
twelve hundred others, formed of Spanish and Italian marble. The walls
of the apartment named the _Saloon of the Caliphate_, were covered with
ornaments of gold; and from the mouths of several animals, composed of
the same metal, gushed jets of water that fell into an alabaster
fountain, above which was suspended the famous pearl that the Emperor Leo
had presented to the caliph as a treasure of inestimable value. In the
pavilion where the mistress of this enchanting abo