AFTER a six hours' passage from Cadiz, I arrived at Gibraltar. The enormous rock loomed still through the morning haze, when Health, represented by a gentleman dressed in a black coat and a round hat resembling other round hats, except that it had for a band a strip of white calico-came alongside, and, with great gravity, examined the ship's papers, already inspected, by-the-by, a hundred times, turning them over and over by the help of a pair of long iron tongs, lest, by touching them with the tip of one of his fingers, he should be infected with the plague. His boat even was not allowed to touch the steamer. As we could produce a clean bill of health, and all else was regular, in the course of a quarter of an hour we landed,

The Rock of Gibraltar has the general form of a triangular prism, stretching along the sea from the north to the south. Its

perpendicular height is 449 mètres (1464 feet); its length about 4000 mètres (4347 yards), and its breadth about 1000 mètres (1086 yards).

On the eastern side, throughout nearly the whole of its length, its face is as even as if cut with a pick; and when from the east of the precipice, lying flat to avoid all fear of light-headiness, you stretch your neck over the void, and gaze on the sharp rocks below, and the sea which washes them, your breathing becomes difficult, and your hand clenches the rugged stone you are resting on, and moistens with cold perspiration; then, when with staring but sightless eyes, you have by extraordinary and instinctive efforts succeeded in wriggling back from the brink of the abyss, and raising yourself, you seem to have escaped from a perilous danger, and feel compelled to sit down, with your back towards the precipice.

On the western side, the rock rises in unequal, and often abrupt slopes, and can only be ascended by long winding inclines. About a half of this western slope is rugged, and bare of vegetation; the other half, though no less rugged, is almost entirely covered with shrubs and tropical plants. It is said that the latter half, which is less frequented than the other, is tenanted by apes; but I could see no sign of them, though I watched very carefully during the nine hours that I remained there. Besides, I do not know on what they could live; I could discover neither fruit nor berry; corks that had done their duty I did see, with pieces of broken bottles, and scraps of greasy paper, but no other signs of life or its supports. Douglas's Cave, a large grotto hollowed out of the rock, at the extremity of which a kind of large bed has been cut out, is near the summit of this part. From the little platform in front of this cave there is a magnificent view, which amply rewards the curious visitor for the heat and appetite which he is pretty sure to have gained by the time that he has arrived at his journey's end. On the same slope there is another grotto, but this is a natural one; it is spacious, deep, and gloomy, and from its curious and beautiful walls and columns, composed of green, yellow, red, and white stalactites, it might be taken for the remains of the vast organ of some subterraneous ruined cathedral.

At its northern extremity the rock loses itself in a strip of fine sand, about three miles long and one and a-half wide, elevated scarcely more than nine or ten feet above the level of the sea, and connecting it with the mainland. The rock itself rises so abruptly and so perpendicularly from the point which unites it to this strip

of sand, that it does not seem to belong to the continent of Europe, with which indeed it has no appearance in common. One is quite disposed to look on it as a fragment flung into its present restingplace from the enormous crags of Abyla, on the other side of the strait; it is the "Calpe" of the ancients, the other one of the "Pillars of Hercules."

Half-way across the strip of sand are what are called the Spanish Lines. These are a series of white custom-house offices, having in front a half-filled ditch, which separates the Spanish from the English territory. When after a few months residence in Spain, one steps across these lines, and advances but a few paces southwards, one cannot fail to be struck with the lofty stature and vigorous appearance of the inhabitants, and no less with the systematic order and discipline which are everywhere conspicuous.

The town of Gibraltar is situated at the foot of the western slope of the rock, it is an insignificant place, and occupies a contracted space between the mountain and the sea, beginning at the place where the sand joins the rock, and extending for about threequarters of a mile. It contains no remarkable building; in short, nothing worthy of note. With regard to antiquities, it can boast of nothing but some inconsiderable remains of an old Moorish castle. It is, however, an important depôt of English manufactures, and carries on a brisk trade, principally contraband, with Spain.

It is peopled by English, Spaniards, and Moors, interspersed with foreigners of all colours, costumes, and languages. Besides the English inhabitant, who walks about at his ease, carrying a large white umbrella, the English traveller, too, may be seenwhere may he not? and often, too, we may hear his inimitable "Hilloa!" addressed to a military friend from the garrison, who, with rubicund hands and face, dressed in a round, tightly-buttoned jacket, made of linen, as white and as well ironed as his trousers, which themselves are as white as snow, and without a crease, has the top of his head barely covered by a minute cloth cap, the peak of which falls over his eyes, so as to give him little opportunity of seeing more than a few yards before him, and having his feet encased in strong boots, glistening with the most brilliant English varnish, and visible as far as the ancles below his trousers. Here, too, may be seen blistering beneath the shelter of a sunscreen, mounted on a long pole which accompanies every sentrybox, the light-haired Highland sentinels, with their short petticoats and bare legs. These Scotch soldiers, who, in bravery, sturdiness, and indifference to danger, resemble all other British soldiers; with

their buckled shoes; their red and white checkered stockings, fastened to their legs by garters decked with rosettes and long ends of red ribbon; with their green, red, and white kilt, in front of which dangles, hanging from the girdle, a kind of pouch, made of black goat-skin, and ornamented with five white tassels; their coat of scarlet cloth; their white belts crossed on the chest; their large and lofty caps surmounted by ostrich-plumes; their bronzed

musket, with a bayonet of polished steel-produce with their quaint costume, associated as it is with bygone customs and remote ages, something of the effect of a masquerade. Towards evening they

pull on over their stockings, in order to protect their legs from the chill of the night air, long white gaiters, reaching above the knees, and protect their backs by ample grey great-coats, which contrast strangely with the ostrich plumes.

The Spaniard dresses here as throughout the whole of Andalusia; the women envelop themselves, even in the month of June, in a large mantle of red cloth, with a hood bordered all round with a wide ribbon of black velvet, and having on each side, in front, a large square appendage, also of black velvet, with a hole in the middle to pass the hands through.

The Moorish Jew-merchant wears a full robe of blue cloth, without sleeves, and, underneath, a second robe of small figured stuff, the breast of which, ornamented with small braided buttons very close together, is half open at the chest, and exposes a frill of lace, made of coarse unbleached thread, but of exquisite design and workmanship. His head is covered with a small cap of blue or black cloth.

The genuine Mahometan Moor, calm in expression and of a bronze hue, is distinguished by a large turban of white muslin, and his white burnous so thoroughly conceals his figure, that little is seen but a small portion of his naked leg above his yellow slip pers. The Moorish consul is a negro; he bears on his intelligent face the long and deep scars which his mother traced on him when he was as yet a child, in order that she might know him again, at all times and in all places. These are, as he told me when I purchased in his shop some curiosities from Tangier, the distinctive marks of his family.

It is not without reason that Gibraltar is deemed impregnable. I never saw a fortress so thoroughly fortified, so perfectly in order, so well stocked with guns and munitions of war, or so well prepared at once to open fire. The whole of this immense rock, absolutely impregnable on its eastern side, with the sea beating against the base of a natural wall fourteen hundred feet high, is everywhere furnished with two, three, or four lines of fortifications and batteries, one commanding the other, all admirably constructed, bristling with heavy iron guns, mounted on their carriages, each ready-pointed and having a pile of shot at its side. In the midst of the most profound peace, were a hostile squadron to make its appearance and draw and draw up in line of battle before Gibraltar, before it had completed a preliminary manoeuvre, the six or seven thousand men forming the permanent garrison would be ready to meet the attack, provisions and stores all laid in, and every man at his