The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-10-16
By ARTHUR H. BUTTON

~ nm i1ON IL LIZ Yin
Late u. S. N.
"a Midshipman's Cruise In the Mediterranean
will be concluded next week.
RoSSING the bay of Biscay after
leaving Southampton on a cold
autumn day. we were struck by
heavy weather and the old frigate
pitched and tossed on the rough sea IN
most approved STYLE We looked back
with regret upon the past gayetieS
when quartermaster at midnight
would shove a lantern in our eyes,
awakening US with the announcement,
Ten minutes to II. strand it's rain
ing" With a groan the sleepy mid
shipman would turn over and out,
hastily dress and go up to stand watch
in the storm for four hours, to be fol-
lowed by three hours sleep and then a
forenoon of work and drill
Arriving in Lisbon. we began to ex-
perience our first real foreign life We
were for the first time in a land where
our language was unknown to the mass
of the people. We could all speak a
little French, though, and with the aid
of that almost universal language we
could make our way around and make
known our wants The many excellent
cafes in the Portuguese capital and the
line opera house saw us much, and it
was at gala night at the grand opera
that the whole royal family, including
the recently assassinated king. who
was then crown prince, occupied the
state box and was received with vocif-
erous cheers Whatever internal
troubles Portugal has had since there
were certainly no signs of them then
Going in and out of the Tagus river
upon which Lisbon is situated. we
passed ancient Belem castle the forti-
fcation that was defied by the u. s s
Niagara during our civil war when pur-
suing confederate cruiser. Like all
the old masonry battlements. ReIem
could have been quickly demolished by
modern rifled guns.
Across the river from Lisbon there
were many bull fights during our STAY.
They were more humane than the Span
ish and Mexican ones, for the bull Is
not killed and his horns are tipped to
keep them from piercing men and
horses; yet the poor bulls are tortured
with the banderillas- while the plea
dores harass them into perfect frenzy
of rage. At one fight that I witnessed
man was killed before the eyes of
the spectators by being trampled
upon by huge bull. There was plenty
Of excitement in these modified bull
fights, even if the bull himself survived
Another catastrophe occurred before
my eyes in Lisbon when a Brazilian
man of-war, anchored close to u.s. was
firing salute. There was a premature
explosion of a heavy powder charge
killing and manning several men. the
mangled body of one of whom was
literally blown from the mouth of the
gun, through the port, into the water
1t was a short sail from Lisbon to
Tangier, Morocco, where we were des-
tined this time 10 spend two weeks
of extremely interesting sightseeing
and experiences. Tangier is the second
oldest existing city of the world. being
exceeded in age by Damascus alone. 1t
has the old walls built centuries ago,
the same old roads, the same SEMI civ
ilized inhabitants. with odd garments,
and of every hue of skin. There are the
ebony tinted Soudanese, the bronzed
Moors and Arabs from the desert, the
fair Jews and hybrids OF few Euro
pean nations. Camels come and go
through the streets, which are narrow
and tortuous, while the market place,
just outside of the main city gate was
q ceaseless source of entertainment for
us young Americans, with it's Bedouins
bristling with old fiintiock guns and
pistols, Ethiopian slaves, yelled Mo-
hammedan women, fortune tellers and
various takers.
Yet there is a fair sized European
colony in Tangfer, and a small but eX-
cellent European hotel, where a lunch
con- one of the most delicious 1 ever
ate, was given us by United States Con-