The rock is about three miles long, by three quarters of a mile broad. Its inhabitants are called "Rock Scorpions". They are composed of English, Italians, Spaniards, Moors, and Jews. The population, exclusive of the garrison, is about 16,500. The strip of peninsula connecting Gibraltar with Spain is called the "Neutral Ground."
The approaches both from the Neutral Ground and from the sea are guarded by a great number of very powerful batteries, so that the rock may be regarded as impregnable. Monkeys are very numerous and can be seen from the Alameda, looking down from the rock on the soldiers at drill, and running up and down the old Moorish Wall leading to the signal station; some of them are very large. In visiting the company's barrack room, when orderly sergeant, one day, the men being all out at drill, I found a large baboon stealing the men's bread off the shelf in the barrack room. As soon as he saw me he sprung out of the window, on to a wall which divided the steep rock from the barracks, then stood and looked at me. They watch the barrack rooms from this wall and when they see the men going out to drill they enter the rooms and steal the bread. The rock at its highest point attains an elevation of 1,440 feet above the sea. It is perforated by numerous caverns, the largest of which is called Saint Michael's Cave, which has an entrance about 1,000 feet above the sea. Thence there is a descent through a succession of caves, some ample chambers, others mere passages through which it is barely possible to creep, to a depth of 500 feet below the entrance; at this point the foul air has barred further ingress, but the roaring of the sea has been distinctly heard, which leads to the inference that these gloomy hollows have communication with the waves beneath. Large stalactites are found in most of the caverns, and congealed stone, of which many useful and ornamental articles are made by the soldiers and others, such as shirt-buttons, brooches, studs and rings, with several other useful articles. There are no springs of fresh water on the rock, and the inhabitants are therefore compelled to depend on the heavy rainfall, and every precaution is adopted to preserve as much of the water as possible; large tanks are placed so as to catch the rain water off the roofs of the houses, and conduits are made to guide the water from the rock surface into great public reservoirs. Among the latter, the Navy Tank, for the supply of ships coming into the port, is conspicuous, its capacity being 11,000 tons of water.
At present England guards this formidable rock with jealous care; every available point of defence bristles with guns: the steep rock is honeycombed with galleries and bombproof barracks; deep ditches with drawbridges, steep escarps, bar all approach, and batteries are hewn in the solid rock, frowning alike on friend or foe. The drawbridges are closed when the evening gun fires at sun-down and are opened at sunrise by a sergeant detailed for that duty, who is called the "key sergeant," his post when not opening or closing the gate, is at the Convent guard, where he keeps the keys of the fortress. There are several pleasant walks about the rock, but perhaps the best is in the Alameda, and the gardens situated at the south end. They are prettily laid out; a bronze bust on a column has been erected in these gardens to the memory of General Elliot, its heroic defender. Plants and different sorts of tropical flowers, dwarf-palm, Spanish-broom, the yellow blossoms of which are mixed with the varied colours of fuchsia,—orange and oleanders interspersed along the beautiful walks and round the shaded rustic seats, with the profusion and aroma of the flowers rendered it a most charming promenade, and during the fine evenings military band performances take place, when it is usually thronged with visitors.
The adjacent Spanish towns of Campamiento, San Roque and Algeciras are much resorted to by excursionists from the rock, and during the summer months are selected by numerous families for a prolonged stay. However little pleasure or interest a ride over this arid and sandy plain affords, when once arrived at Campo, the rider enjoys a most charming prospect, as there is probably no other point from which the isolated rock appears so grand or picturesque than from this neat little village.
During the summer of 1860, a war raged between the Queen of Spain and the Dey of Algiers, when about five hundred women and children of the Moorish Jews from Algiers fled to Gibraltar for protection; they were sent to the North front where they were supplied by our authorities with tents and rations during the war, which lasted for six months; their husbands were kept behind to fight, and only a few old men accompanied the women to Gibraltar. After putting in a little over four years on the rock of Gibraltar, we embarked on the afternoon of the 25th June, 1862, on board H.M.S. "Himalaya," which lay at the New Mole, for the island of Corfu. As we lay at the wharf expecting to go to sea early in the morning, Rev. Mr. Gardiner came on board about eight o'clock, to bid the battalion a last farewell; the moon was clear and shone down with a silver brightness on the mass of redcoats who assembled on deck to hear Mr. Gardiner address the battalion. He stood on the quarter deck and delivered a most eloquent and sympathetic address, which touched the men's hearts, and drew tears from most of those strong soldiers who were present.
At five o'clock next morning we steamed out from the New Mole and proceeded round Europa point, passing the pillars of Hercules, and as we steamed out we gradually lost sight of the coast, which was beautifully illuminated by the rising sun, affording us a last glimpse of the old rock of Gibraltar. This magnificent transport, one of the best in Her Majesty's service, is kept up to man-of-war fashion in discipline and cleanliness. After a splendid voyage of five days we reached Corfu at two o'clock in the afternoon of the 1st July, 1862. No. 5 company, consisting of Captain Tewart, Lieutenant Hall, and Ensign Græme, myself and four sergeants, and one hundred and sixty rank and file, were ordered to proceed on detachment to Santa Maura, and No. 3 company to Ithica. During the afternoon the head quarters and the companies for Corfu disembarked, the companies for detachment stopped on board, and at four o'clock next morning the steamer proceeded with these detachments to their respective stations, arriving at Santa Maura about three o'clock in the afternoon of the following day, when we disembarked, the "Himalaya" proceeding on to Ithica with No. 3. Company. The garrison of Santa Maura, consisted of Captain Tewart (commandant), one garrison sergeant-major, four sergeants, and two hundred rank and file, including the artillery; that day I was appointed garrison sergeant-major and orderly room clerk besides. We were stationed at Santa Maura about twelve months. One of the Austrian steamers came in every Sunday morning with the mails from Corfu. I had to answer by seven p.m. the same day, when the steamer returned. This was the only mail during the week. The island of Santa Maura is separated from Greece by a broad lagoon which abounds with wild ducks; they came in immense flocks in the evening to feed during the night, and flew away at daylight. Many a night the officers of the garrison put in after those ducks. After drills and parades the men amused themselves with different games, such as cricket, ball-playing, skittles, and pitching quoits. There was only one thing that marred our pleasure, and that was desertion; an idea had got into the heads of some of the worst characters to desert—Greece being close, and only the shallow lagoon between them and freedom; a few of them, whom we were much better without, deserted into Greece.
We had a lance-corporal named John Smith (a Yankee), who was in charge of a fatigue party outside the barrack gate, where he induced the six men to desert. The alarm being given by the sentry on the battery, that the fatigue party were escaping across the lagoon, I seized a rifle, ran out the back gate, loading as I went along, sighting it for six hundred yards. I fired at Smith as he was crossing the water, striking him in the heel, knocking the boot off his left foot, leaving it behind in the water where we found it with the bullet hole through it. After they got into Greece they were free, and we could not touch them; they carried the wounded man off with them.
A man named John Nobles, who was servant to Lieutenant Hall, robbed his master of thirty-six sovereigns and deserted into Greece. The sentry on the battery saw him with his dog early in the morning walking on the spit towards Greece, but did not suspect that he was going to desert as he told the sentry that he was going to give his master's dog a run on the spit, when he let him pass, as he was an officer's servant. About ten o'clock in the morning, the officer missed his servant; his suspicions being aroused he opened his cash box, and found the money gone; he reported it to Captain Tewart, who ordered myself and a corporal to start after Noble, the chief of police sending a policeman as an interpreter. We scoured the country as far as Missolonghi, where we arrived about six o'clock in the evening, and were shown great attention, and treated well by the Tetrarch, who sent an escort of cavalry with us next morning, besides furnishing us with horses. We divided into three parties, each taking a different road; towards evening we halted at a village. I put up at a respectable private house, there being no public houses in the place; my escort were billeted on the people of the village. It being their dinner-hour, the hostess spread a clean white cloth on the carpet in the middle of the floor, on this were placed a pepper-box, salt-cellar, and a roll of bread for each person, little mats were placed round on which the dishes were placed in succession; all sat down cross-legged round the cloth; a long narrow strip of white linen was spread round on our knees; there were eight persons sitting round this spread. A large soup-tureen containing a kind of thick soup and meat stood in the centre, when we were all politely invited to commence. They all dipped their spoons in the tureen, and asked me to join them, but I declined by saying that "I did not like soup just then." After soup other dishes, consisting of stewed mutton, fish, rice, milk, vegetables and fruit were handed round; they all helped themselves. The left hand is used to convey the food to the mouth, the thumb and two first fingers doing the duty of forks. There is a neatness in the Grecian way of manipulating the food that can only be acquired by care and long practice; the thumb and two fingers alone must touch the meat, the rest of the hand remaining perfectly clean and free from contact with it. An amusing incident occurred, tending to increase our merriment. Mustard, an unusual condiment on a Greek's table, was handed round, perhaps in honour of my presence. An old lady, not knowing what it was, took a spoonful, and before any one had time to interfere, had swallowed it. Her face became crimson, tears ran down her cheeks, she sneezed and appeared choking; but at last, with a supreme effort she regained her composure and tried to look as pleasant as circumstances would allow. It is considered a mark of great attention on the part of the hostess, to pick the daintiest bit of food, and place it in the mouth of any of her guests. Native wine was handed round, in small tumblers. I managed to make an excellent dinner, being used to squatting down to my meals in camp before Sebastopol; therefore I was not at all awkward on this occasion. Dinner being over, the cloth was removed, when coffee and cigarettes were handed round. Next morning we had a cup of coffee and started off scouring the country; at last we passed through a wood where we saw Noble's dog, and close to him was the body of Noble covered up with a little earth. We immediately acquainted the authorities, who held a post-mortem examination on the body. We then searched and found the guide that accompanied him, and had him searched, when the money was found on him, except two dollars which Noble had paid for horse-hire for himself and his guide. When travelling along through the wood, this Greek guide whom he hired to show him the way, murdered him for the money, and buried him in the woods. Only for the faithful dog we might never have found either the murdered man or the murderer. The money was retained by the Greek authorities until after the trial.
We then retired to Missolonghi, when I returned the Tetrarch many thanks for the assistance he rendered us in securing the murderer and the money. He then gave me a letter of congratulation to the Commandant, when we returned to Santa Maura.
The guide was tried by the Greek authorities, when, by a force of circumstantial evidence, he was found guilty and sentenced to penal servitude.