Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/534

388 WAR OF GRANADA. PART these sierras, bj levelling the mountains, filling up ^ the intervening valleys with rocks, or with cork trees and other timber that grew prolific in the wilderness, and throwing bridges across the tor- rents and precipitous harrancos. Pulgar had the curiosity to examine one of the causeways thus constructed, preparatory to the siege of Cambil which, although six thousand pioneers were con- stantly employed in the work, was attended with such difficulty, that it advanced only three leagues in twelve days. It required, says the historian, the entire demolition of one of the most rugged parts of the sierra, which no one could have be- lieved practicable by human industry. ^^ Defences of Thc Moorish garrisous, perched on their moun- tain fastnesses, which, like the eyry of some bird of prey, seemed almost inaccessible to man, beheld with astonishment the heavy trains of artillery, emerging from the passes, where the foot of the hunter had scarcely been known to venture. The walls which encompassed their cities, although lofty, were not of sufficient thickness to withstand long the assaults of these formidable engines. The Moors were deficient in heavy ordnance. The weapons on which they chiefly relied for annoying the enemy at a distance were the arquebus and cross-bow, with the last of which they were un- erring marksmen, being trained to it from infancy. They adopted a custom, rarely met with in civilized 18 Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, cap. 51. — Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61ico8, MS., cap. 82. llie Moors.