THE CITY OF THE MOOR 5 



which, according to the custom of the times, 

 as a true knight, he was bound to grant. He 

 then discovered, too late, that he had been 

 tricked into granting a year's truce to the Walis. 

 Smouldering with rage, he returned to Granada 

 and spent the year in maturing plans for the 

 complete overthrow of his enemies. This he 

 effected with the aid of the Sultan Yusuf of 

 Morocco, whose army of 100,000 men landed at 

 Tarifa in 1275. The Africans, as on previous 

 occasions in Moorish history, proved dangerous 

 allies. Mohammed found himself embroiled in a 

 long and absolutely unprofitable war with Castile, 

 and had the mortification of seeing the Africans 

 possess themselves of Algeciras, Tarifa, and 

 Malaga. He recovered possession of the latter 

 town by bribing the governor to exchange it 

 for the town of Salobrena, to be held as a personal 

 acquisition ; and rid himself at last of the trouble- 

 some Africans by means of an alliance with 

 Sancho of Castile. But in 1302 we find him 

 again at war with the Christians, fighting against 

 whom he died. 



Mohammed III. was the worthy son of his 

 father, and is specially commended for his in- 

 defatigable energy. He took a short way with 

 traitors, even for those rough times. Ibn Nasr, 

 the governor of Guadix, having been removed 

 from his office by the Sultan, exerted himself 



