III.
Gibraltar.
Stay from the 20th to the 30th May, 1857.
Political Significance of the Rock.—Courtesy of the British Authorities.—Fortifications.—Signal Stations.—The only place in Europe frequented by Monkeys.—Calcareous Caves.—Chief Entrances into the Town.—Shutting the Town Gates.—Public Establishments.—Inhabitants.—Elliott's Gardens.—The Isthmus, or Neutral Ground.—Algeziras.—Ceuta.—Commerce and Navigation.—Excellent regulation in the English Navy relative to Officers' Outfit.—Small-pox appears on Board the Caroline.—Departure from Gibraltar.—A Fata Morgana.—The Novara passes the Straits.—Take leave of Europe.—Voyage to Madeira.—Floating Bottles to ascertain the Currents.—Arrival in the Roads of Funchal.
This remarkable promontory, which in our days has obtained so much political importance, the Calpe of the ancients, constituted of old, with the opposite Abyla,[7] the so-called pillars of Hercules, celebrated, at the same time, as the boundary of the then-known world. It derives its name from the corrupted Arabic Gebel (mountain) and Tarik, the name of a Moorish conqueror, who had pitched his camp here (a. d. 711). Like a colossal giant, guarding the portal of Europe, and converted, by the energy and ingenuity of the British, into an almost impregnable outpost, this precipitous rock has, as regards the Mediterranean, the same high strategic importance for that great maritime people, as Heligoland for the German Ocean, Aden for the Red Sea, Ceylon and Singapore for the Indian Archipelago, Hongkong for the Chinese waters, or the Cape and St. Helena for the Atlantic Ocean.
[7] The present Apes Hill.
Gibraltar was already strongly fortified, when it belonged to the Andalusian kingdom, but its grandest fortifications date from the treaty of Utrecht (1713), when it became an appanage of the British crown. Stupendous and incomparable are the works which since that period have been executed on it, though the calcareous formation of the locality and its numerous caves may have considerably facilitated their construction.
The English authorities, who so kindly assisted in the scientific researches, obligingly furnished each individual of the frigate's staff with a written permission to inspect the fortifications as often as they pleased, and thereby afforded them the particular gratification of being able to view and admire these vast structures in all their details.
Excellent and well-kept roads lead to the principal fortifications, which only begin at an elevation of several hundred feet above the town. The galleries, hewn in the solid rock, forming a kind of casemates, are of such breadth and height that they may be conveniently traversed by a man on horseback with his hat on. They have been constructed at an immense expense of labour and money, and are designated by various names, as "Upper gallery," "Lower gallery," "Queen's gallery," "St. George's Hall," and so on. Their extent is estimated at an English mile, but is probably much greater. Besides these galleries, passages run for miles in the interior of the rock, affording the garrison a thoroughly-protected connection with all points that may chance to be threatened.