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 RONDA

the cliff-perched city now before us. Both cities tower a thousand feet above the plain, both boast a gorge of awful depth and a bridge of grand proportions and imposing height. Both have been Arab strongholds, both captured after many fruitless efforts by people of the Latin race, and both are to-day Christian cities. One thousand feet above the Vega we descry the snowy walls of red-tiled houses; before us is the entrance to the frightful gorge, or "Tajo," cleft in the rocky foundations of the town. The scene becomes more and more impressive as we draw nearer to the cliffs. The roar of tumbling waters is echoed back and forth between the walls of rock; the whirr and buzz of many tiny flour-mills fills the spray-laden air. Our guide points out a path by which we are to ascend city-*ward, but we can barely trace its tortuous upward course. He tells us that the bridge was built more than a hundred years ago, and that its arch is three hundred and fifty feet in height; that the river is