FROM CORDOVA TO CATHAY.

forth to meet the Moslem. ‘Yarfe was almost twice his size, and was mounted in
asuperior manner. And yet, notwithstanding the apparent odds against him,
young Garcilasso killed the boastful Moor, rescued the sacred emblem, and laid
the head of his adversary at the feet of Isabella.

The site of this memorable encounter and the spot where Isabella sat to
witness it, are marked by a great stone cross protected by an artistic canopy.
Subsequently a church was erected in Santa Fé, in which to-day the sacristan
can show you a silver lamp presented by Isabella; but the strangest thing about
this church stands between its two great towers. At a distance it resembles a
large kite, but nearer view discloses it as a memento of that stirring episode of
the siege of Granada. The marble head of the vanquished Moor, of heroic size,
lies placidly between the towers, and above him rises the lance, or an effigy of
it, used to slay him, flanked with palm leaves and across them the precious
placard of the Ave Maria.

Thus, everywhere in Spain, are we reminded of the days of chivalry and
romance, and the scenes of the distant past are brought vividly before us.

But at the door of Isabella’s silken tent another hero stands awaiting royal
favor. He asks no boon of her; he does but seek her aid to carry out his
schemes of conquest; he craves permission, like Garcilasso, to enter the lists
against the infidel.

The Moors are conquered, but mayhap there are other pagans, in the world
unknown beyond the sea. He, Columbus, with the aid of his sovereigns and
by the grace of God, would go forth single-handed to battle for the faith.

It is the month of January, 1492. Briefly the story of Granada’s downfall
may be told. That month Granada capitulated, and the last stronghold of Islam
in Europe passed from the Moors forever. The year that saw the star of Spain
in the ascendant was the birth-year, also, of the history of civilization in America.

The two great events are coeval; for as the Star of the Orient sank toward
Africa, the Star of the Occident rose upon the horizon. The same year that
witnessed the greatest victory of the Spaniards, by which their nation was
advanced at the time to the foremost place on earth, likewise beheld the open-
ing of a career of conquest in unknown regions, the magnitude of which the
imagination fails to grasp. And it was to come about through the genius of an
obscure, almost unknown, individual, humbly waiting his sovereigns pleasure at
Santa Fé. Here in this city of the camp, American -history had its beginnings;
here the crucial test was applied that decided for all time the fate of millions of
human beings across the ocean, and changed the character of Spain and her peo-
ple. Her victories hitherto had been on land; for centuries she had been en-
gaged in wresting from the infidel her own lost territory ; foot by foot, year by
year, until at last the great work was accomplished. Now, before their wearied sol-
diers had recovered breath, while their arms were yet tired with wielding the