The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-02-24
1T ROCK Of gibraltar
CoE- LANGDON WRITES OF THE
LANDING AT ENGLAND'S
FORTIFIED TOWN
MANY QUEER SIGHTS THERE
Impressions Made by the March of
the British Soldiers Through
the Narrow
Streets.
Brooklyn Eagle.

AeiIdT LOT large steamers of the merchant
marine, so they drop anchor out in the
cay quite distance from the shore and
the passengers are transferred to large
double-decked tug Of light draught, and
II the tide Is very low they are again
transferred to large surf or whaleboats
each propelled by two sturdy boatsmen
with very long oars or sweeps These
men are mostly of Spanish or mixed
Spanish and Moorish blood
Not many of the passengers seen, da-
slrous OF stopping long at Gibraltar. but
they generally avail themselves of the
Two or three hours stay of the steamer
TO drive through the town to its several
points OF interest. The passengers are
Few and the boatmen numerous, conse-
quently the competition for custom Is
nerce and turbulent. There Is no small
community on the footstool of earth
winch can say so much to the square
yard as these boatmen when shouting
their demands for employment 1t is
said that most of their vociferous deaf
en1ng shouting and gesticulating is
swearing, but as the cursing is in bad
Spanish it doesn't hurt an American
happily ignorant of that beautiful Ian
guage.
When the passengers are finally dis
tributed among the many boats the
Wordy war, the frightful babel ceases and
smiles and laughter succeed to what
at one time seemed to promise an i'm
mediate and mutual massacre. But this
calm lasts only till the boats touch the
old stone landing steps, when the babel
peglns again, this time from the drivers
OF the many little one-horse carriages
and hotel runners recommending their
employers houses. From the old half
submerged stone steps, worn smooth by
the feet of countless generations, It is
only a half minutes walk to the en-
trance Of the fortified wall that encIoses
the town. An official stationed on the
cr1dge that crosses the fosse Of the demi-
line gives you permit to enter the
City of the Rock" and the next minute
you pass through the waterproof Gate
and find yourself in the midst of a busy
and remarkably picturesque scene This
is the main street of Gibraltar. which
Is narrow, well paved thoroughfare
just wide enough for two vehicles to
pass each other The sidewalks. too
are so narrow as to compel single f1le
else, in order to keep abreast one must
walk in the street. The sidewalk and
street, therefore. are practically one, and
both are thronged by people of various
rationalities, English French, Spanish
Hebrew and Crock scorpions" the last
named being people Of mixed blood born
at Gibraltar and called by English resi-
dents "scorps'' for short. There, too
are soldiers in their natty uniforms, and
the ever present Moor, who moves along
with gloomy, silent dignity that, some
how, does not seem inconsistent with his
stockingless feet and large yellow and
heelless slippers. Occasionally one sees
Mussulman, whose peculiar fold Of the
turban distinguishes him as one who has
several times made pilgrimage to the
tomb Of the Prophet Mahomet at Mecca
and who has, therefore, become a saint,
without having to undergo before saint
hood the painful process of dying, COM
mon to saints in all other denominations
Progress through the dense stream of
pedestrians that flows along the narrow
sidewalk is firing, particularly for
strangers and would be still more DIFF
flcult and exasperating to them but for
the almost unVarying courtesy extended
from those they meet by their stepping
off the sidewalk into the street or IL a
passing vehicle prevents this, then stand
ing aside into the open doors of the
stores, Or shops, as they are called here.
that open on the walk. Carriages, am
balances, army wagons, mounted stan
officers, orderlies. lady equestrians and
detachments Of soldiers en- route to re-
lieve sentinels and outposts pour along
this crowded avenue in an unceasing
stream. Here and there the current is
broken by troops of turkeys and small
herds of goats, the former being faWked
to time into the lanes that debouch into
the street and then hating from door
to door to be MIXED. It Is hard to say
which seems most at home in this busy
scene of active life, the timid turkey,
the philisophic goat or the gentle little
donkey, so funny, of phenomenal and
vibrating ears and so dininutive in size
that you feel like drawing him away
from the apparently imminent injury by
passing vehicles to the danger Of which
he seems if not unconscious at least
absolutely Indifferent
The shops that line both sides of the
street are generally Of two stories in
height, small, unattractive and not well
stccked;' with the exception of those that
are given up to the sale of Moorish and
Turkish wares, curioSities and relics
more or less genuine, and there the arti-
cles are all marked with prices which
bring far above their real value and are
expected to be reduced by chaffering
In this quaint and compactiy built lit,
tie city Main, or WATERFORD street, is
the principal avenue for travel and
transportation. The space between it and
the sea front of the fertilization that
rises, hardly 500 yards to the west, is
filled by a dense mass of stone build
ings, consisting of government Offices
ordnance, quartermaster and commissary
storehouses, sheds for fire engines and
life-saving apparatus and officers quar-
ters. There is not a square yard that
is not built upon, except where you see
the not very large gardens in the rear
of the governors house or the extremely
narrow passages called lanes that in
tersect this closely built quarter Of the
town and lying on a Level with Main
street lead from it to the not far distant
ramparts.
The openings from the street on the
opposite side are broad stirways that