Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/457

431 DEATH OF ALONSO DE AGUILAR. IS new insurrection broke out on the eastern coniines chapter VII. of the Alpuxarras, which was suppressed with sim- '- ilar circumstances of stern severity, and a similar Dec exaction of a heavy sum of money ; — money, whose doubtful efficacy may be discerned, some- times in staying, but more frequently in stimulating, the arm of persecution.' But while the murmurs of rebellion died away in Revouofthe •' Sierra Ver- the east, they were heard in thunders from the dis- ""^J"- tant hills on the western borders of Granada. This district, comprehending the sierras Verrneja and Villa Luenga, in the neighbourhood of Ronda, was peopled by a warlike race, among whom was the African tribe of Gandules, whose blood boiled with the same tropical fervor as that which glowed in the veins of their ancestors. They had early shown symptoms of discontent at the late proceedings in the capital. The duchess of Arcos, widow of the great marquis duke of Cadiz, whose estates lay in that quarter, ^° used her personal exertions to ap- pease them ; and the government made the most earnest assurances of its intention to respect what- ever had been guarantied by the treaty of capitula- tion. ^* But they had learned to place little trust in princes ; and the rapidly extending apostasy of 9 Carbajal, Anales, MS., auo ii See two letters dated Seville, 1501. — Zurita, Anales, torn. V. lib. January and February, 1500, ad- 4, cap. 27, 31. dressed by Ferdinand and Isabella 10 The great marquis of Cadiz to the inhabitants of the Serrania was third count of Arcos, from de Ronda, preserved in the archives which his descendants took their of Simancas, apud Mem. de la title on the resumption of Cadiz by Acad, de Hist., torn. vi. Ilust. 15. the crown after his death. Men- doza, Dignidades, lib. 3, cap. 8, 17.