The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1901-10-10
ON TOP OF GEBEL-TAREK.
Carriage Drives Around Gibraltar. OF
for Fee.
e Especial Correspondence of The Journall

GIBRALTAR, september Z, 1901. soon
as your feet touch the narrow strip of
beach ON the western edge of this ire
mendous rock, where nestles the port,
an impulse to mount the topmost peak
is born within you, and like Banquo's
ghost will not down" till gratifed. 1t
takes veteran mountain climber at
least two hours to scale that sharp in
cline, including the dignifed delay re-
CURED in the issuing of a permit by
the military secretary, whose office is in
Gunner's Lane. 1t is the literal truth,
as often stated, that you cannot turn
around in Gibraltar without asking
military permission, and the most in
offensive visitor is made to feel, during
every minute of his stay, that he is re-
garded with suspicion and his presence
tolerated only so long as he walks the
straightest kind of an English chalk
line.
The pass secured, up and up you toll,
through the steep and narrow streets of
the town that are often mere flights of
stone stairs; past ti1e-roofed cottages
and gardens gorgeous with tropical
color; every gateway and arbor covered
with purple masses of India flowers
and walls hidden under scarlet blossom
I'd creepers; hedges of cacti and aloes,
clumps of acacias and feathery palms,
rose trees with trunks as thick as
mans arm; mignOnette, heEotrope and
frangipani pertaining the air, and i'm
women hang their clothes to dry; peach
trees trained against sunny walls, yeW
and cypress trees cut into fastastic
shapes and ancient castles mantled with
ivy green, all as English as the lati-
Jude will allow.
Your path leads through the Alemada,
which is shining example of what
Anglo-Saxon enterprise can do in the
desert. The level acre orr two away up on
the treelesS hillside exposed to the full
blaze of the tropical sun, was former
ly burning waste of bare rock and red
sand until some tasty British governor
bethought himself to turn it into a
garden. Soil was brought from afar
and laid deep upon the rock, flowers
and trees were planted, and to-day it is
an Eden of beauty and shadowy cool
ness. At the entrance is drill ground,
where the regimental band plays after
moons and evenings. So the Alemada
las become the fashionable promenade
of Gibraltar, the rendezvous of what
ever beauty and style the place posses
SeS, at all times SWarming with the
brilliant uniforms of British officers,
and a medley of curious costumes from
every corner of the earth. Family car
riages filled with plump, rosy-cheeked
matrons and angular daughters, move
sedately along the shaded drives; and
young Englishmen in cycling, cricket,
football togs on polo ponies or wear
ing the pink coat of the hunter, pro-
claim that in the line of sports, as in
everything else, the spirit of the step
mother country prevails in ancient Glib
raltar.
Leaving the Alemada, you hear strains
of martial music rising clear and sweet
above the rumble of wheels and the
murmur of voices. Away up yonder,
over the heads of the people, a glitter
ing mass of FURNISHED steel appears to
be sliding down the steep path. Nearer
and nearer it comes, and presently a
long line of white coated, dark killed,
bare-kneed Highlanders files proudly
by to the wall of bagpipes and the roll
Of drums. Again climbing the steep
face of the hill you come to the -four
enormous reservoirs, capable of hold
ing five million gallons of water, which
have been cut into the side of Gebel-
Tarek. Each tank is made mosquito.
proof by means of gauze wire, thus
preventing that pest, so prevalent here
in hot weather. from introducing any
germs of disease. In the event of siege,
this great water-supply would prove in
valuable, and in times of peace bene
fits the troops and the poor alike.
At last you reach the highest point
and stand beside Ell Hecho, the signal
tower, from which it is said the Bay OF
Biscay can be discerned through pow.
erful glass. 1t requires an equally pow
erful imagination to make that discov
cry; but two continents and three king
doms are within the limits of vision
To the southwark, Africa appears but
as step across a shimmering pool, and
dimly through clouds of sand you see
the white walls of Fee and the desert
oasis in which the capital of Morocco is
built. On the east stretches the vast
and tranquil Mediterranean, its two
thousand mile reach dotted with stored
islands and the ships of the world
Fastening to the Occident and the
Orient. The spot upon which you stand
was one of the mystical Pillars of Her
cules. the other Pillar towering Just
across the Strait. Away down below,
almost at your feet, is Europa Point
the very spot where, according to class