Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/442

298 298 THE SPANISH ARABS. PART display of their matchless horsemanship ; while the '. face of the country, intersected by mountains and intricate defiles, gave a manifest advantage to the Arabian light-horse over the steel-clad cavalry of the Christians, and w^as particularly suited to the w^ild guerrilla warfare, in which the Moors so much excelled. During the long hostilities of the country, almost every city had been converted into a for- tress. The number of these fortified places in the territory of Granada was ten times as great as is now to be found throughout the whole Peninsula. ^^ Lastly, in addition to these means of defence, may be mentioned their early acquaintance with gun- powder, which, like the Greek fire of Constantino- ple, contributed perhaps in some degree to prolong their precarious existence beyond its natural term. But after all, the strength of Granada, like that of Constantinople, lay less in its own resources than in the weakness of its enemies, who, distract- ed by the feuds of a turbulent aristocracy, especial- ly during the long minorities with which Castile was afflicted, perhaps more than any other nation in Europe, seemed to be more remote from the conquest of Granada at the death of Henry the Fourth, than at that of St. Ferdinand in the thir- teenth century. Before entering on the achieve- ment of this conquest by Ferdinand and Isabella, it may not be amiss to notice the probable influence 35 Mem. de la Acad, de Hist., the banks of the Guadayra and torn. vi. p. 169. — These ruined Guadalquivir, retains its battle- fortifications still thickly stud the mented tower, which served for the border territories of Granada ; and defence of its inmates against the many an Andalusian mill, along forays of the enemy.