The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1910-04-07
LETTER FROM R. {. BEACH
entertaining Writeup Of Southern
Europe and Gibraltar.

pr<, --ioNtAd, ICu. EI.--IO the |
tribune After leaving Cadiz in Snasn
we made a little run in the night ami
waking up Saturday morning. found
ourselves off of Gibraltar. the strong
est fortress In the world In some
way ! had gained the impression that
OiDraltar was lonely rock promon-
tory and did not expect to find q f,ne
CITY there OF about 10000 people At
ulstance the rock looks very much like
lts familiar picture In our magazines
Win the exception that the advertise
nent OF the Prudential Life Insurance
70. was not on the real rock. How
ever, instead of 1t being a bare rock
we round 1t to be covered with vines
and shrubbery. The English govern
ment has built an artificial barber at
great cost and in 1t keeps. among it's
| olner craft, a feet of torpedo boats.
mere were also battleships and cruz
sers anchored there. The immense
rocky promontory is honey-combed
tunnels, the longest one being half a
mile long. The two largest guns there
oelng ~ rect long, weight one hundred
tons, and throw a twc-thousand ponnd
shell eight miles. The only indication
OF Tort on the promcntory itself is
the port holes In the rock Visitors
were not allowed to enter the fortifi-
catons, and no where were Cameras
or sketching allowed. 1t is estimated
Inat England has spent $3.50, 0OO, 900 in
lortifylng this rock. 1t is provisioned
Tor several years In case Of siege. They
nave quilt large drydock, making the
rock a great naval base From the
tender, which conveyed us from the
snip to the store, we had our first view
OF Africa land earlier in the morning,
mad we been on deck. At the pier we
were divided into parties of twenty
persons, each party being put in
charge OF guide. We walked part
way up the hill and around the town
and devoted the afternoon to visiting
the shops, where we secured several
pieces OF drawn work and other Moor
1sh articles of about a quarter Of the
first asking price About four o'clock
we had learned that there had been a
bad storm on the ocean and a tender
loaded with about 100 members of our
party had tried to reach the boat and
had been forced to come back, after
all on board being drenched and caus-
ing quite panic among the women.
We all boarded the tender for another
trial, and, after backing and filing
several times finally succeeded in ty-
ing to the larbe boat and embarked
safely. To one unaccustomed to the
ocean storm at sea is too impressive
to be described. After a run of SO
hours on the Mediterranean we land
ed at Algiers. AS we went out on the
| forward deck in the morning, we saw
another amphitheatre, with the usual
towers and domes, Moorish architec-
| ture predominating, and a city of 140,-
| 600 along the level shore and extend
!! ing far up on the hills, which rose
gradually in the back ground The
1 harbor was filled with freight steam
ers. We noticed the work of loading
and unloading the vessels was being
done by a motley crowd CT swarthy
men with all styles of head dress,
| flowing robes, and bare legs. We were
soon on shore, and loaded in carriages
and started on three hour drive over
the city. We found instead of an Arab
city, a modern French city, with en-
Arab section similar to the Chinese
section which once made San Francis
co notorious to tourists. The build
ings in the French portion, were mod
ern, excepting that each window had a
fancy little balcony in front of it, and
4
from the street line about eighteen
feet. What would, in America, be the
store front, were series of columns
| and arches extending all about the
streets, being in reality. covered
| sidewalk. In riding through this mod
| ern city, with well-equipped trolley
| trains of three cars to a train, over
| we'll paved street and finely macada-
| mixed roads it was hard 70 believe that
we were viewing the place that scarce
. ly century ago, was the home of the
greatest lot of pirates the world has
ever known. In six years, from 1874
to $780, England alone lost $50 ships
and 5000 English people were forced
| into slavery 1t seems large esti-
mate when they claim 100000 Chris
tians suffered the nameless horrors OF
Algerian bondage in the last 400 years
We viewed the pretty French homes
which had brick and stone walls, plas'
tered on the outside with cement, an6
kalsomined or painted pure white OF
delicate pink and orange shades ant
ornamented at the cornices with artis
tic supports. A fine effect is obtained
on the walls by pretty tiles of Moorish
pattern, and | imagine our lineoleun
l manufacturers obtain their patterns
from these Moorish designs. We fin
4 ally terminated our ride at restaur
ant on the water front and ate oul
lunch on the sidewalk, being greatly
bothered during the meal by peddler:
and beggars coming TO our table, the
former showing their wares and thu
latter showing some terrible deformit.
to excite our sympathy Being unable
to interpret the lunch card, we finall.
found a waiter who could talk littl'
ENGLISH and we had not trouble. Win,
was served here at every meal abou
the way us Americans serve water
| After finishing our lunch we procure'
an Arab guide to take us through tn
| Arab town. l wish | was trainet
] writer with great powers of descrip
ton when / try to write about thi
i place. The town is built up, over an,
around several steep hills. Thei
streets were dirty passage ways aver
,Nto lava