ARAB CIVILISATION IN SPAIN 41 the garden over beds of flowers chosen for their perfume, warmed in winter by hot air conveyed through pipes bedded in the walls. There were bath-rooms supplied with hot and cold water. There were boudoirs, drawingrooms, libraries, halls, corridors, and galleries lighted by windows of clear and coloured glass. Clusters of columns of marble, either plain or incrusted with more precious substances, supported roofs of mosaic and gold. The walls were decorated with mosaics, or covered with arabesque and floral paintings. The furniture was of the most precious and varied description. It was made of sandal and citron and other woods brought from the tropics, and curiously inlaid with mother-of-pearl, ivory, silver, and gold. There were tables of gold, set with emeralds, rubies, and pearls. In winter the walls were hung with tapestry, the floors were covered with thick Persian carpets, of which the most magnificent were embroidered with gold and pearls. There were luxurious couches piled with pillows. Vases of porcelain and crystal were filled with flowers. Rare and curious objects from all parts of the world were brought together to satisfy the eye and taste. In the evening the rooms were lit by wax candles, which were distributed by groups of hundreds in chandeliers that hung from the ceilings. Great skill and taste were devoted to the design and workmanship of these chandeliers. They were often made from the metal found in the bells of Christian churches, and when this was the case, there seems to have been a special pleasure in designing them for use in the mosques. One famous chandelier is mentioned which held no less than 1804 candles. The gardens in which the great houses stood are described by every writer in terms of rapture. Bowers of roses ; orange and pomegranate groves ; shaded walks, over which lemon-trees were trained, so that the fruit when ripe ''hung down like little lamps" ; successions of colour and perfume, to procure which plants were brought from all parts of the world. Sometimes, to please a favourite wife, a whole hillside would be planted with her chosen