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THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.
and in the midst of power could find time and opportunity for acts of kindness to all who needed charity and help.
In the conquest of Granada Isabella finished a work begun by her ancestors. From the foot of the mountains that separate it from Castile, the valleys and plains of Granada extended to the Mediterranean. It bristled with fortresses, some built to guard the frontiers, on mountain peaks far above the flight of birds or drift of clouds; others near the cities, to protect the homes and industries of the citizens. The Moors, loving Granada with patriotic passion, believed that the paradise of Mahomet was placed in the heavens that overhung it. The delicious climate, the beautiful scenery, the limpid rivers and the fields that, flooded with almost constant sunshine, bloomed with flowers or bore golden harvests, made it worthy pf their love and pride. The splendor of an oriental civilization was developed in Granada by the Moors. The wealth they gained in commerce they spent in lavish profusion on palace and garden, city and suburb. The suburbs of Baza were under such perfect cultivation that they were called “the garden.” Here, surrounded by trees, were the homes of rich merchants. During the war of the conquest of Granada each house became a fortress, every thicket was an ambush, every arbor hid a Moorish knight, defending his home with desperate valor. It took seven weeks and the labor of four thousand prisoners to clear this tract of four miles of its trees and mansions and convert it into a desert that offered no obstable in the path of the victorious Spaniard. The province of Granada and its capital city bore the same name.
Built on the slopes of two hills whose summits were crowned with the fortresses Albaycin and Alhambra, divided by the rivers Genii and Darro, the city of Granada enclosed within its walls a population of two hundred thousand souls. This did not include those who dwelt in the fortresses, at least forty thousand more of soldiers and members of the sultan’s royal household. Granada stood first among the principal Moorish cities for her wealth and the learning, industry and bravery of her citizens. Seventy public libraries affirmed their intelligence, and the palace of the Alhambra, even in decay, still proves their taste in architecture and suggests the luxury of their lives. The Moors sought to reproduce in their palaces the delights of the Mohammedan paradise.
In spite of their voluptuous lives, they were brave in war, skilled in manufactures and accomplished in science and literature. The reigning sultan in 1478 was Muley Abdul Hassan, the eldest son of Ismail, who, by a treaty made with Isabella’s brother, Henry IV., had agreed to pay tribute to the king of Castile. When a child, he had seen this tax paid to the Spanish ambassador sent to receive it and had resented with a boy’s impotent rage the scoffs and taunts of the guards who escorted the embassy. When he came to the throne he received the officers sent by Ferdinand and Isabella to demand the tribute with marked courtesy and splendid gifts, but returned the following haughty answer to the sovereigns: “ Tell your masters that those who paid tribute are dead, and Granada has only for the Christian iron for spears and steel for swords.” From that moment Isabella decided to drive the Moor from Spain. She spent three years in preparation, for she fully realized the magnitude of the task she had undertaken. She reorganized her army, sent for skillful armores from France and Italy to build cannon, imported gunpowder from Sicily and Portugal, and heard in the first battles of this long war the artillery mingle with the cries of knightly conflict.
Isabella gave especial attention to measures for the care of the sick and wounded of her army. Large movable tents supplied with every comfort for the injured were made for transportation in the rear of the troops and were named the “queen’s hospital.” They contained everything that could relieve suffering, and each tent had its number of surgeons to dress the wounds, and priests to soothe the last moments of those who were beyond mortal help. This was the first recorded attempt of the organization of camp hospitals. Ten years of incessant fighting were ended at last by the fall of the city of Granada and the close of over seven hundred years of