CHAPTER X.

Choice of Routes between Malaga and Granada--Road to Velez--Malaga--Observations on that Town--Continuation of Journey to Granada--Fertile Valley of the River Velez--Venta of Alcaucin--Zafaraya Mountains--Alhama--Description of that Place and of its Thermal Baths--Cacin--Venta of Huelma--Salt-pans of La Mala--First View of Granada and its Vega--Situation of the City--Its Salubrity--Ancient Names--Becomes the Capital of the Last Moslem Kingdom of Spain--Fine Approach to the Modern City--It is the most purely Moorish Town in Spain--Cause of the Decadence of the Arts under the Moors of Granada, and of the easy Conquest of the City--Destruction of the Moorish Literature on the Capture of the City by the Spaniards.....217