mounting guard at the portal, while the rest, wrapped in their
tattered cloaks, slept on the stone benches. This portal is called the
Gate of Justice, from the tribunal held within its porch during the
Moslem domination, for the immediate trial of petty causes: a custom
common to the Oriental nations, and occasionally alluded to in the
Sacred Scriptures.

"The great vestibule or porch of the gate, is formed by an immense
Arabian arch, of the horse-shoe form, which springs to half the height
of the tower. On the key-stone of this arch is engraven a gigantic
hand. Within the vestibule, on the key-stone of the portal, is
sculptured, in like manner, a gigantic key. Those who pretend to some
knowledge of Mahometan symbols, affirm that the hand is the emblem of
doctrine, and the key of faith; the latter, they add, was emblazoned
on the standard of the Moslems when they subdued Andalusia, in
opposition to the Christian emblem of the Cross. A different
explanation, however, was given by the legitimate son of the Alhambra,
and one more in unison with the notions of the common people, who
attach something of mystery and magic to every thing Moorish, and have
all kind of superstitions connected with this old Moslem fortress.

"According to Mateo, it was a tradition handed down from the oldest
inhabitants, and which he had from his father and grandfather,
that the hand and key were magical devices on which the fate of the
Alhambra depended. The Moorish King who built it was a great magician,
or, as some believed, had sold himself to the devil, and had laid
the whole fortress under a magic spell. By this means it had remained
standing for several hundred years, in defiance of storms and
earthquakes, while almost all other buildings of the Moors had fallen
to ruin, and disappeared. This spell, the tradition went on to say,