CHAPTER LVIII.
Sufferings of the people of Malaga.
The sufferings of Malaga spread sorrow
and anxiety among the Moors; and
they dreaded lest this beautiful city, once
the bulwark of the kingdom, should fall
into the hands of the unbelievers. The
old warrior-king, Abdalla el Zagal, was
still sheltered in Guadix, where he was
slowly gathering together his shattered
forces. When the people of Guadix
heard of the danger and distress of
Malaga, they urged to be led to its relief;
and the alfaquis admonished El
Zagal not to desert so righteous and
loyal a city in its extremity. His own
warlike nature made him feel a sympathy
for a place that made so gallant
a resistance; and he despatched as powerful
a reinforcement as he could spare,
under conduct of a chosen captain, with
orders to throw themselves into the city.
Intelligence of this reinforcement
reached Boabdil el Chico, in his royal
palace of the Alhambra. Filled with
hostility against his uncle, and desirous
of proving his loyalty to the Castilian
sovereigns, he immediately sent forth a
superior force of horse and foot, to intercept
the detachment. A sharp conflict
ensued; the troops of El Zagal were
routed with great loss, and fled back in
confusion to Guadix.
Boabdil, not being accustomed to victories,
was flushed with this melancholy
triumph. He sent tidings of it to the
Castilian sovereigns, accompanied with
rich silks, boxes of Arabian perfume, a
cup of gold richly wrought, and a female
captive of Rebeda, as presents to the
queen; and four Arabian steeds, magnificently
caparisoned, a sword and dagger
richly mounted, and several albornozes
and other robes, sumptuously embroidered,
for the king. He entreated them, at
the same time, always to look upon him
with favour, as their devoted vassal.
Boabdil was fated to be unfortunate
even in his victories. His defeat of the
forces of his uncle, destined to the relief
of unhappy Malaga, shocked the feelings,
and cooled the loyalty, of many of his
best adherents. The mere men of traffic
might rejoice in their golden interval of
peace, but the chivalrous spirits of Granada
spurned a security purchased by
such sacrifices of pride and affection.
The people at large, having gratified
their love of change, began to question,
whether they had acted generously by
their old fighting monarch. "El Zagal,"
said they, "was fierce and bloody, but
then he was true to his country; he was
an usurper, but then he maintained the
glory of the crown which he usurped.
If his sceptre was a rod of iron to his
subjects, it was a sword of steel against
their enemies. This Boabdil sacrifices
religion, friends, country, every thing,
to a mere shadow of royalty, and is
content to hold a rush for a sceptre."
These factious murmurs soon reached
the ears of Boabdil, and he apprehended
another of his customary reverses. He
sent in all haste to the Castilian sovereigns,
beseeching military aid to keep
him on his throne. Ferdinand graciously
complied with a request so much in unison
with his policy. A detachment of one
thousand cavalry, and two thousand infantry,
were despatched, under the command
of Don Fernandez Gonsalez of
Cordova, subsequently renowned as the
grand captain. With this succour, Boabdil
expelled from the city all those who
were hostile to him, and in favour of his
uncle. He felt secure in these troops,
from their being distinct, in manners,
language, and religion, from his subjects;
and compromised with his pride,
in thus exhibiting that most unnatural
and humiliating of all regal spectacles,
a monarch supported on his throne by
foreign weapons, and by soldiers hostile
to his people.
Nor was Boabdil el Chico the only
Moorish sovereign that sought protection
from Ferdinand and Isabella. A splendid
galley, with lateen sails, and several
banks of oars, came one day into the
harbour of Malaga, displaying the standard
of the crescent, but likewise a
white flag in sign of amity. An ambassador
landed from it within the Christian
lines. He came from the King of
Tremezan, and brought presents similar
to those of Boabdil, consisting of Arabian
coursers, with bits, stirrups, and
other furniture of gold, together with
costly Moorish mantles: for the queen
there were sumptuous shawls, robes, and
silken stuffs, ornaments of gold, and exquisite
oriental perfumes.
The King of Tremezan had been
alarmed at the rapid conquests of the
Spanish arms, and startled by the descent
of several Spanish cruisers on the
coast of Africa. He craved to be considered
a vassal to the Castilian sovereigns,
and that they would extend such
favour and security to his ships and
subjects as had been shown to other
Moors, who had submitted to their sway.
He requested a painting of their arms,
that he and his subjects might recognise
and respect their standard, whenever they
encountered it. At the same time he
implored their clemency towards unhappy
Malaga, and that its inhabitants might
experience the same favour that had
been shown towards the Moors of other
captured cities.
This embassy was graciously received
by the Castilian sovereigns. They granted
the protection required, ordering their
commanders to respect the flag of Tremezan,
unless it should be found rendering
assistance to the enemy. They
sent also to the Barbary monarch their
royal arms, moulded in escutcheons of
gold a hand's-breadth in size.[80]
While thus the chances of assistance
from without daily decreased, famine
raged in the city. The inhabitants were
compelled to eat the flesh of horses, and
many died of hunger. What made the
sufferings of the citizens the more intolerable
was, to behold the sea covered
with ships, daily arriving with provisions
for the besiegers. Day after day, also,
they saw herds of fat cattle and flocks
of sheep driven into the camp. Wheat
and flour were piled in large mounds in
the centre of the encampments, glaring
in the sunshine, and tantalizing the
wretched citizens, who, while they and
their children were perishing with hunger,
beheld prodigal abundance reigning
within a bow-shot of their walls.
