Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/507

ROUT IN THE AXARQUIA. 361 After travelling with little intermission through chapter the night, the army entered the winding defiles of , — - — ,..,,. • I Progress of the Axarquia ; where their progress was necessarily the army. so much impeded by the character of the ground, that most of the inhabitants of the villages, through which they passed, had opportunity to escape with the greater part of their effects to the inaccessible fastnesses of the mountains. The Spaniards, after plundering the deserted hamlets of whatever re- mained, as well as of the few stragglers, whether men or cattle, found still lingering about them, set them on fire. In this way they advanced, marking their line of march with the usual devas- tation that accompanied these ferocious forays, until the columns of smoke and fire, which rose above the hill-tops, announced to the people of Malaga the near approach of an enemy. The old kins; Muley Abul Hacen, w^ho lay at Moorish , prepara- this time in the city, with a numerous and well- «'°"s- appointed body of horse, contrary to the reports of the adalides, would have rushed forth at once at their head, had he not been dissuaded from it by his younger brother Abdallah, who is better known in history by the name of El Zagal, or " the Valiant " ; an Arabic epithet, given him by his countrymen to distinguish him from his nephew, the ruling king of Granada. To this prince Abul Hacen intrusted the command of the corps of picked cavalry, with instructions to penetrate at once into the lower level of the sierra, and en- counter the Christians entangled in its passes; while another division, consisting chiefly of arque- voi,. I. 46