The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1855-10-25

With the EngllSn, ScotcD, 1rlsn q Amer
cans, in all their various costumes an
speaking their different tongues. Itreal
ly seemed for the moment as if it were
gala day gotten up for special amusement
1t was like grand worlds fair for th
exhibition of the costu mes, customs, AM
manners of all strange lands. The ex
tremely narrow streets; the little donkeys
with burdens larger than themselves strap
wed to their sides; the bearded and filth,
Jew, in his red cap and long coarse robe
and baggard and sullen look; the statel,
Moor with his white turban and bare leg
and yellow slippers and nicely chiselet
features; the Spanish senorita, with be
olive complexion and sparkling eye ant
light head-dress streaming in graceful
folds down her neck and shoulders; th
English soldier on guard at every corne,
and presenting arms as we passed him
were some of the prominent objects .tha
arrested my attention. The whole towl
is one grand fortifcation. The soldier
of different regiments meet you at every
turn, and their barracks are scattered ev
cry where among the markets, the stores
the churches, and private residences of tht
citizens. The streets are laid out in tht
most singular manner, and most of then
are too narrow for ordinary carriages t.
pass each other. They are, however re
markatly clean. The houses are soil
plain structures, two and three stories high
and the public edifces, including the Gus
tom house, the hotels, the post Office, and
the churches, are without any pretension:
to beauty of architecture. The idea al
every point is military strength, and the
stranger feels at every turn that he is in
a mighty garrison, and encompassed with
batteries and guns and all the engines o.
war.
A few of US determined to make the
most of our time: SO We found a guide
and ascended to the galleries" or exca'
vations on the summit.
Through the polite attention of oul
Consul, Mr.. Sprague, an order has beer
issued from headquarters to give Amer.
lean officers free access. As We approach.
ed the works our uniform was our pass.
port, and polite sergeant was immedi-
atty detailed to conduct US through the
most wonderful parts of the fortress. The
strong gates yielded to his key, and for
one hour we followed him from battery
to battery, now climbing up the heights
by stone steps cut out of solid rock, end
now winding our way through deep gloomy
tunnels, where our only light was that
which came struggling through the port
holes over the muzzle of the guns; pas
sing down spiral staircase leading to
hidden chambers of destruction, which
few eyes are ever permitted to see and
finally terminating our long walk in a
capacious hall filled with ordnance of the
largest size, and pointing through en-
brasures which looked out on the coast
of Spain aud the Mediterranean. This
large apartment, as the sergeant told US,
is sometimes splendidly illuminated by
the officers of the garrison, and the beau.
ty and chivalry of England and Spain
are here gathered to relieve the tedium Of
exile and the sameness OF their duty by
music and the dance.
1t was no small addition to the inter
est of this excursion to step out occasion.
ally upon the very edge ofthese stipend
Gus heights and look down upon the quiet
bay, filled with vessels from every quar-
ter of the globe; the adjoining coast Of
Spain, adorned with cultivated fields and
gardens; the city of Algiers, the scenes
of so many conflicts in the days of the
Moors; the comparatively modern towr
of St. Rogue, where Spanish customs and
modes of life, even to the "bull fights,
may be seen to-day just as they appeared
thee hundred years ago; the "neutra
ground" on the opposite sides of which
the British and Spanish forts frown upor
each other; the distant and desolate fields
of Morocco yelled in mist: and more
beautiful than all, the blue waters of th'
Mediterranean sparkling IN the soft ligh
of one of the most brilliant days of sum
mer.