CALIPHS OF SPAIN'. 53 



the king's exchequer received about 15,000Z. yearly 

 — an immense sum at tliat time, when wheat sold at 

 the rate of sixpence a bushel. The consumption 

 of 250,000 inhabitants kept 130 water-mills con- 

 stantly at work in the suburbs. The population of 

 this small kingdom under the Moors is said to have 

 amounted to 3,000,000, which is now diminished per- 

 haps tu one-fifth of that number. Its temples and 

 palaces have shared the same decay. The Alham- 

 bra stands solitary, dismantled, and neglected. The 

 interior remains of the palace are in tolerable pres- 

 ervation, and present a melancholy picture of the 

 romantic magnificence of its former kings. Seville, 

 which had continued nearly 200 years the seat of a 

 petty kmgdom, enjoyed considerable reputation as 

 a place of wealth and commerce. The population 

 in 1217 w'as computed at 300,000 persons, which, in 

 the sixteenth century, had decreased one-thii-d. It 

 was one of the principal marts for olives in the 

 Moorish dominions ; and so extensive was the trafle 

 in this article alone, that the axarafe, or plantations 

 round the suburbs, employed farm-houses and olive- 

 presses to the amount of 100,000, being more than 

 is now to be found in the whole province of An- 

 dalusia. 



The government of the Arabs in Spain was a 

 military despotism — tempered, however, by man- 

 ners and customs which made it preferable to the 

 irresponsible rule of Eastern tyranny. The throne 

 was elective ; yet the reigning monarch had seldom 

 much difficulty in transferring the sovereign power 

 to a favouiite son. Though a military people, the 

 Saracens were but little skilled in what may be 

 called the tactics of the profession. Hakem was 

 the first of the caliphs that organized an army, paid 

 his soldiers regularly, and formed magazines of war- 

 like s<^ores. The command of the native Spanish 

 troops was usually given to some relation of the 

 monarch, or other confidential person; and their 



E3 



