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128 EUGENIE, EMPRESS OF THE FRENCH.

BY JOHN S. C. ABBOTT.

The city of Malaga, in Spain, was the birthplace of Euge- nie, the Empress of the French. This quaint old Moorish town, containing about sixty thousand inhabitants, is situated on the shores of the Mediterranean, at the head of a bay which constitutes so fine a harbor that the city has been, for centuries, one of the* most important seaports of the Spanish peninsula. Bleak, barren, rugged mountains encircle the city, approaching so near to the sea that there is scarcely room for the streets of massive, lofty stone houses, which are spread along the shore. These streets, as in all the old Moor- ish towns, are very narrow, many of them being not more than six or eight feet wide. The houses are large and high, and are built around a court-yard. The ruins of ancient for- tifications and the battlements of a fine old Moorish castle add to the picturesque beauties of the crags, which rise sub- limely in the rear of the town.

The climate is almost tropical, and the market abounds with all the fruits and vegetables which ripen beneath an equatorial sun. Though most of the city presents but a labyrinth of intricate and narrow streets, there is one sqiiare around which the buildings are truly magnificent. This square, or public walk, called the Alameda, is the favorite resort of all the ffishion and gayety and pleasure-seeking of the city.