The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-11-15
Tyrone drelanO Constitution.

that disturbs the midnight quiet. A
ragged cloud obscures the moon. but
now has again passed, and down shoots
a sheen over the dark waves, revealing
at anchor many of England's warships.
In the rigging of some of the sea mon
sters lanterns swing, fitfully faring as
the gusts of wind strike them. The
great ironclads lie like boulders, mass
i've, inky, motionless, their ports here
and there glowing like living Goals of
fire, while at times signal lights flash
from tall mastS.
The great bay of Gibraltar sweeps
from the point beyond Algeciras around
to the Rock" which obtrudes it's en-
battled walls into the sea as if in proud
consciousness of England's power. Dim
sea walls line the strand, mingled mass
of house and rock and veranda almost
meeting across precipitous streets, and
rooftops peeping over them; houses and
barracks, turret and ancient stone de-
Tense, climb the steep hillside; sheer
from the verdure-clad slope behind the
town the naked rock rearS its rugged
outline to the signal station nestled on
the center and slightly below the high
est point. The view here, even at mid
night, is gorgeous. Yonder, where the
sharp-prowed yacht cleaves the silver
tipped waters, the ripping wakes float
out aStern until lost in view. Just be-
low US, hundreds of feet down, the surf
breaks over those inky rocks, throwing
the masses of crystal spray against
the precipitous sides of the cliff, and
away beyond, on the African shore, the
mountains of the Apes raise SUBMITS
of strange and fantastic shape sky
ward.
For 600 years it was a Moorish fort, a
Spanish stronghold at intervals during
$50 years, until by bright piece OF
strategy the English captured this i'm
portant point. Over and over it has
been besieged and stormed. so far with
out avail. But whether it could with
stand modern ornaments remains to
be tested. Land batteries, fleets of iron
clads, tons of shells, could render this
spot more than uncomfortable, al
though, on the other hand, no expense
and no labor have been spared to main
tain the defenses and ornaments at the
highest pitch of excellence. Engineers
and gunners are always at work add
ing new Notifications weapons of
greater calibre succeed others SEEM
ingly invincible. But all the danger is
not in the strength of the adversary.
During these long years of peace a
large native population has grown
within these gates, and unless they
could be quickly deported starvation
might compel surrender The town is
held always at the point of the bay
onet. Governed by strictest military
rules, the gates are closed at sunset,
unlocked only after dawn. The cere-
mony is solemn and imposing. When
the sergeant, accompanied by a mill
tary escort. starts from the governors
gate to unlock the fortress gate or to
lock it, a salute CUNTS fired. Gibraltar,
the reputed impregnable fortress, the
possession of England for two centur-
les, is remarkable in every respect. In
regard to its physical formation: In
some lights a hideous sphinx; in 9TH
ers, a couchant lion, head and Shout
ders dominating the neutral ground,
tail and body crouching lower toward
Africa, while the Spanish peasants long
since christened it "El Suerpo" C'the
corpse'D. Approached either from the
east by the great tideless sea-" the
Mediterranean, or from the west by
the Atlantic, it appears a formidable
barrier, closing both egress and ingress
to the straits.
After the evening gate is locked no
entrance or exit is allowed.
The pomp and circumstance of war
are visible on every side; military mu-
sic, brass bands, bugles, drums, flies
echo all day long on hillsides, tops of
rocks and down in the narrow streets.
Guard houses and sentinels are at
every corner on barrack, battery and
bastion, in principal squares, at gov
ernor's residence, at gates, on neutral
ground at the boundary. Soldiers move
about everywhere in the crowd that
throngs the streets; red coats and blue,
somber rif1emen and linesmen gorgeous
in white and scarlet; scores of officers
in civilian clothes, but betraying their
profession in every gesture.
Here and there rosy-cheeked Eng
lish women, chubby little fair-haired
children; Moors whose dusky faces
are wreathed in white turbans; the
contrabandiStas, with embroidered
jacket and tinkling brides. setting out
for the hills; black-eyed Spanish girls,
with lace wells dropping from their
shapely Lead, stroll along the narrow
sidewalk; the Jew, with gabardine and
that stern medalic countenance in
which the history of his race seems
written; the Turk with tarboosh CHS
head covering). Yonder comes a bus
rastling over the well-paved roadway,
passengers inside and out; an Arab
merchant from Morocco or Algiers, in
voluninous turban and flowing gar
| ments, side by side with a Spanish
monk. Hackney coaches, with small,
sturdy horses, pass along also; queer,
| two-wheeled carts filed with Spanish
peasants; donkeys, pannier-laden or
| with rider astride away back on their
launches; n-burned, registering blue
| jackets on liberty, ladies on horseback,
dogs, ponies, soldiers, pass and repass.
Over the murmur of voices and the
rumble of wheels hear g distant,
strange, wild strain of music. a stir
ring martial melody. Away off yonder,
over the heads of the people, a gilt
tering mass of FURNISHED steel is NOV
| ing toward us, and as the crowd parts
before its advance, and the wall of the
pipes and the laundering roll of drums
| re-echo from the walls of the houses,
a long column Of white-coated, dark
killed, bare-kneed Highlanders marches
with measured, cadenced step and
proud, military bearing down the
! street.
Out through the gate-the guard
there turned OUT and presenting
arms-the regiment marches, crossing
over the wide parade of the Alameda
and on, on, past cactus gardens and
high stone walls, and also hedges and
giant geraniums, past pretty little tile
rooted houses, passing batteries, cover
/ ed ways, gates and steps-up steer
hill to q, broad space in front of the
barracks. The ranks are broken; the
| men swarm into the building through
! the open doorways.
The Alameda was originally the arid
RED Sands" but now converted into
an Eden, with long, shady walks under
well grown trees by the untiring indus
try of the resident engineers.
Signal station is perched on the cen