grain, owing to the inundations caused by excessive rains in the fruitful
provinces of the south. The great object proposed in this campaign was the
reduction of Baza, the capital of that division of the empire which
belonged to El Zagal. Besides this important city, that monarch's
dominions embraced the wealthy sea-port of Almeria, Guadix, and numerous
other towns and villages of less consequence, together with the mountain
region of the Alpuxarras, rich in mineral wealth; whose inhabitants,
famous for the perfection to which they had carried the silk manufacture,
were equally known for their enterprise and courage in war, so that El
Zagal's division comprehended the most potent and opulent portion of the
empire. [6] In the spring of 1489, the Castilian court passed to Jaen, at
which place the queen was to establish her residence, as presenting the
most favorable point of communication with the invading army. Ferdinand
advanced as far as Sotogordo, where, on the 27th of May, he put himself at
the head of a numerous force, amounting to about fifteen thousand horse
and eighty thousand foot, including persons of every description; among
whom was gathered, as usual, that chivalrous array of nobility and
knighthood, who, with stately and well-appointed retinues, were accustomed
to follow the royal standard in these crusades. [8]

The first point, against which operations were directed, was the strong
post of Cuxar, two leagues only from Baza, which surrendered after a brief
but desperate resistance. The occupation of this place, and some adjacent
fortresses, left the approaches open to El Zagal's capital. As the Spanish
army toiled up the heights of the mountain barrier, which towers above
Baza on the west, their advance was menaced by clouds of Moorish light
troops, who poured down a tempest of musket-balls and arrows on their
heads. These however were quickly dispersed by the advancing vanguard; and
the Spaniards, as they gained the summits of the hills, beheld the lordly
city of Baza, reposing in the shadows of the bold sierra that stretches