The record-union., 1895-06-21
GIBRALTAR And ALGIERS.
The ImpregnabIe Fortress and the
Dazzling White City.
vivid Impression of Their Charm
Military Force of England and
Neatness, Dramatic Pose and Taste
of the Notwithstanding Episodes.

Neatness, Dramatic Pose and Taste
of the Notwithstanding Episodes.
There is something pathetic in spec
tacle of great city held permanently by
a foreigner, as Gibraltar is by the British
and Alg1ers by the French, writes Noah
Brooks from Algiers to the New YORK
Times. I wonder how the Spanish feel
when they see the red cross of st. George
Hyinp over the ramparts OF the rock.
And is there spirit enough left in the lazy
Algerines, do you suppose, to resent the
Frenohifying of their ancient stronghold?
Probably it is better for the world that
the key of the Mediterranean should be
in the hands of the English than those
of the Spanish. And there is no DOUBT
that Algeria is a thousand-fold better OH
under French rule than it ever was under
the domination Of the sea robbers, VINO
not only preyed on the commerce OF the
world, but upon each other.
The rock lies very near north ana
south its east face overlooking the Medl-
terranean, and the so-called neutral
ground which lies between it and the
Spanish mainland.
The rock is about mile long, and IS
little over 1,400 feet high at It's loltlest
emlnence-a knife-like ridge, where the
ledge looks as if il had been crumDled
away by the action OF the elements. VI
course, everybody has heard all abOnt the
rocky galleries that have been burrowed
in the rock, with occasional openings Tor
cannon and those cannon can be trained
upon anything on sea or land, at every
point of the compass in the vast circle
commanded by this mightiest fortress IN
the world.
One can creep out of an embrasure here
and there, and gaze fearfully down upon
the wrinkled and shining sea, and the
ragged city below, which looks like
huddle of children's toy houses; and far
oft to the northward one sees the solitary
Spanish peak on which the Queen Chair
looms like Crag against the sky.
On the lonely tower, 1t Is said, the
Queen of Spain will sit and see the Brit
ish flag come down from the Rock. Well,
she will wait good while for that sight.
There is no Queen OF Spain now, and
nobody knows what will happen after
the boy King shall have been gathered to
his fathers.
There is no denying the fact that the
strangers view of Gibraltar is impress
sive. Everyw where guns; every where
forts, curtains, basuOns and orillOns:
everywhere redcoats aud ''the meteor
flag of England" Shops, houses and
hotels are built in and among the most
tremendous tOrtlhcatlOns. one gets the
idea that this is a vast fortified camp into
which the arts of peace were admitted for
time on sufferance.
Should war come or danger approach
all these would be swept out as useless
rubbish, and the vast works would be
stripped for battle. There is frowning
seawall around the base Of the Rock. In
side of this are water batteries. Beautl-
1ul gardens, rich in bloom, adOrn the
residential streets. Over the foliage and
the color black muZZles of War-dOgs lick
their feverish lips in the embrasures.
You connot enter the town without
military pass; and if you do not get out
of the gates before evening -gunfire, the
hour of which is daily announced, you
are prisoner for the night. Neverthe-
less, the whole show impressed me
something theatrical There is wonder
tul exhibition here of England's military
greatness.
Five thousand men are in garrison. and
supplies Of ratiOns and drinking water to
last an army through years OF siege are
stored up in the inner recesses of the
rock. Gibraltar is impregnable. That is
the word that has gone out among the
nations ever since the British flag was
hoisted here in the beginning of the
eighteenth century. Nobody Will ever
question the verify of that word.
Tradition sutfices for the rest. The
guns and the ammunition are antiq uated.
There is not piece of artillery on the
place that is less than twenty years old.
Here and there few showpleces-l00-to ton
guns-do duty as samples of engines of
war; but in the galleries are no breech-
leaders, no machine guns-nothing but
ordnance of obsolete pattern.
ENGLAND is fulIV I'D to the times in all
matters relating to offensive and defensive
war material. Gibraltar is not. The
word impregnability has gone out. a
fleet OF the finest modern warships has
its rendezvous here. That is enough, and
may it be long, long day before nations
shall again resort to the arbitration of the
longest cannon and the strongest armor
in settlement of their disputes.
The appearance OF the exterior of the
Rock is softened by the heritage that
covers much of it's surface. Although
the wall of rock rises sheer and perpen-
dicular in many places, there are ledges
where grow variety OF semi-tropical
plants and vines, and along some OF the
terraces there are little groups of wild
olive, pepper trees and berry, bearing
bush, which the French residents strip
OF fruit for the manufacture of absinthe
Beautiful, too, are the dark. green and
polished leaves Of the acanthuS, whose
convoiutions, it is said, gave the idea of
the Corinthian capital TO the old Greek
artist. While we were wandering through
one OF the open galleries of the rock, the
relocated Tommy Atkins, who was our
guide, stopped and gazed curiously up
the precipitOus hight. Inquired of con-
cerning his solicitude, he said: II was
looking TO see il there was any h'apes in
sight, sir"
There, were no apes in view, however,
but there were hundreds of them living
among the inaccessi BILE crags and assures
of the rock. They are usually as large
boy Of ten or twelve years, and weigh
some seventy pounds when full grown.
Their lives are insured; it is "bad form"
to shoot an ape, and the soldiers place
food where the creatures can find 1t. But
they are sometimes dangerous, for they
roll about the loose stones, which may
drop on unsuspecting passengers below.
IAN Hamerican lady was just missed,
SIR" said our Tommy Atkins, "by one of
them blarsted stones. and it weighed at
least fourteen pound, sir.'
The population of Gibraltar is quite as
unique in its way as the rocky fortitica-
tions. There one gets his first glimpse Of
the Oriental man. Moors, Arabs, Turks,
Berbers, Nubians, Jews, Spanish, Mall
tese and English, each clad in his own
proper garD, crowd the narrow thorough
fares and make q picturesque panorama
of life.
The swarthy Moors, looking exactly
like the late ohm Mccullough as Othello,
but with a certain shsbbiness In their
nnery, stalk fiercely through the crowd.
They are the naughty and unconquered
ones. Up on the ragged hight is a tall,
castellated tower, mellow with the tints
of time built by the Moors in the days OF
their occupation, eleven centuries ago.
Even in it's degradation as a common
iail it has an indescribable grace and
dignity. Ii is the Moor still. and the un
easy population that frets around Its i'm
movable base may we'll look up and ad-