The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-06-09
TOLEDO,
TIE VERY ANCIENT CAPTTAL or
SPAIN.
Sights OF city which was Founded
Nearly Twonty Centuries Ago.


Especial Correspondence of the Journal
and Courer)
Toledo. Spain. May 2S You might
wander for days amid these labyrlh-
thine alleys, shut in by close high walls
without gaining so good an idea OF TO-
iedo as may be obtained in half an
hour from the highest point in the city
TIE ascent to the Zion of this Jerusa
lem is no more difficult than any other
of its steep and stony streets. Passing
through "the Gate of the SUM- to an
open space Immediately above the jut-
ting escarpment, whose inaccessible
sides Justify the Gothic founders in
their selection Of a site you commend a
view of all within the walls, as well as
of the encircling hills, and the wild
and melancholy Tagus winding for
miles between jagged cliffs Slipping
down from your feet on every side are
forts and castles and towers. all so
weird, so uniformly old and hopelessly
decayed that it is difficult to believe
they can have anything to do with the
nineteenth century. And, indeed. many
of them have not For example; those
Cyclopean ruins, close at hand We're
once King Wamba's palace, built in the
year 674, and afterwards occupied by
Roderick. From one of its windows he
beheld the lovely daughter OF Count
Julian who had been intrusted to his
care while she was bathing in the riv-
err; and then and there became pos
eessed with the fatal passion which led
to the invasion of the Moors and the de-
struction of the Gothic empire.
That blackened heap of stones just
beyond the Bridge of Alcantara, known
as "Galiana's Palace, is another mon
ument Of by-gone centuries, around
which cluster traditions which show
that human nature has been much the
same in all the ages. Princess Galiana
was the beautiful daughter of King
Colafre, who loved her beyond any
thing else in the world, and built her
palace compared with which the glo-
ries of the Arabian Nights paled into
insignificance. Hither endless lovers
came a-wooing and annoyed the prin-
cess 1readfully-so the story goes. Inc
most unwelcome of all the enamored
ones was Bradament, a gigantic Moor
ish chieftain of hideous visage, but in
calculabe wealth, who had under
ground passage tunnelled at great ex-
pense all the way to Toledo from his
stronghold at Guadafajara, beyond the
mountains. so that he might visit the
princess every day. At length Charlie
magne the Great came to assist King
Golafre against Abderrhaman, the Sui
tan of Cordova; and being lodged in
this palace, he straightway fell in love
with the beautiful Ga1iana. 1t hap
~, -, oh, n o1iy 9o1r'
to the story. Bradamant, grown holder
and more importunate as his suit failed
to progress, stole secretly through the
tunnel one night, intending to convey
the princess by force to his stronghold.
He met Charlemagne instead, who had
somehow got wind of his intentions. A
duel in the dark ensued, in which the
gigantic Moor was slain Charlemagne
cut off his head and presented it to the
princess, who was so charmed with the
gift that she at once accepted the hand
of the giver, accompanied him to
France and was triumphantly crowned
his queen.
The Spaniards Of to-day incline to the
belief that Galiana was either a myth
or an infidel enchantress, whose wiles
neither Christian nor Moslem could re-
sisst. After her departure, 1t is said, the |
celebrated Wing Al-Mamun took pos !
session of this palace and retired to it in |
his intervals of leisure to study the |
heavens and prosecute scientific re- !
searches, In company with the wise men |
of his court To later Arabs it was |
known as 1.-THE Mansion of the Hours"
because of a wonderful cepsydra or
}o,. ri rEtY, nj or it's cr1r 6ayl |
by the astrologer Az-Zarkal This con-
sisted of two tanks, placed at right an !
giles to each other, and so contrived, by |
a complicated system of Subterranean |
pipes and cisterns. that they accurately |
measured time according to the phases |
of the moon. After Alfonso VI had APP
propriated the palace, an inquisitive |
Jew, wishing to discover the secret of
the clepsydra's mechanism, obtained
permission to examine its interior ar
rangement He took the machinery
apart but was unable to put it together
again; and thus in few hours de-
again; and thus in a few hours de-
stroyed one of the greatest curiosites
that human ingenuity had ever invent
ed. The Persian wheel that raised the
water, and was propelled by sluice,
stood between the Tagus and the main
entrance to the palace, and less than
fifty years ago it's original piers were
still in use for irrigating purposes.
Fragments of masonry and half-buried
walls cropping up in all directions indi-
cate that Galiciana's palace must have
been Of far greater extent than the por-
ton now standing would lead one to
suppose. The gossiping Moorish chron-
iclers never weary of relating it's Won IL
ders They tell US that in King Cola
fre's day there was a lake in the center
Of the grounds, and in the middle of the
lake an island, and in the heart of the
Island a summer-house, constructed en-
golden and jeweled inscriptions. Foun-
.ains were set all around it, so arranged
hat the water could be turned on at will
from the inside, when their sprays
played over and completely envelOped
he house, cutting it off from the outer
world until the master chose to press
he button which stopped the flow of
water. Here. cooled by the artificial
cascade, whose drops refracted the rays
If the sun and displayed the softened
1ues of the rainbow through its trans
parent roof, the monarch took his sizes
"a, reclining upon damask cushions,
anned by female slaves-the very inn
1ersonation of sensual luxury, It is sad