The Coconino sun., 1925-06-19

A causeway and swinging bridge
connect Gibraltar with the Spanish
mainland. The low level strip of land
between belongs to no country and
aside from a guard house at each end
of the bridge, no buildings are allowed
built there.
Old Gibraltar has stood IL import
ant seiges, the last one in 1879 to
1888, in which the French were un-
able to take it. The old rock was
named after the Moor, Tarikibu-Z -Zijad,
who in AID. I'll established a fortress
there to harry Spain. Just what old
Zijad wanted to harry Spain for does
not appear in the records, but | pre-
sumo it was just because he had a
mean disposition and wanted to an
noy some one away from home when
his wives were doing the spring house
cleaning.
The name "Gibraltar" is a corrup-
ton of the original Turk name Gebel-
al-Tarik or Hill of Tarik The fortress
was in possession of Castilians in
1862. The English took it in 1904
during the war of Spanish succession
and have held it since, though the
queen of Spain said she was going to
sit on the top of an adjacent mountain
until it was retaken by Spain. A
rocky projection on the mountain is
pointed out as the queens chair. She
didn't keep her promise, the British
conceding that she need not keep it
if she would just go up there and sit
II hours once each year.
Gibraltar is a free port and a very
important shipping point for this sec
bion.
The old town is built on the old
Spanish plan with narrow, rocky,
rambling streets which wind and twist
around up and down the hillside.
Algeciras, small Spanish city
across the harbor, is of no great i'm
portance except for splendid bull
fights now and then and magnificent
hotel on the sea front. Just why this
| fine half million dollar hotel is here
does not appear from the local sur
roundings. The mainland slopes back
| from the sea in bright green and is
flanked by distant range of noun
tainS.
Our ship came in around from the
east out Of the Mediterranean to the
west side of Gibraltar into the har-
Dor and left through the straits to the
northwest for New York.
The main indoor sport among pas
sengers on leaving Gibraltar is check
! ing up innk lists of stuff purchased
during the trip around the world, for
the customs house officers at New
York, when we land there Tuesday.
| Packing six trunk-loads of junk into
| four trunks is another of the extreme
agonies of parting from the ola
| floating hotel. Many new trunks have
been coming aboard at different ports
and the ships carpenters have been
j busy making packing boxes for some
| of the more industrious shoppers OF
| the trip.
Our captain is the most spoken of
man on the ship and is just as pleas
ant as a she bear after battle with
bunch of wasps. He may have had
a friend among the passengers, but
| think she got off down the line
some place. His most famous remark
/ is: I'm captain of this ship" He
used it frequently in answering ques-
tions as well as to give out informa-
ton to the casual inquirer.
! The most cheerful news regarding
him is the information that this is
his last trip. Without going into a
vast amount of detail as to his won
derful mental mechanism, it is safe to
bet that if he accidentally fell over
board great majority of the passen-
gers and crew would rush to the chain
and heave the anchor over to him
I'm not handing him this delicate
compliment because he has ever sug-
gested to me that he was captain OF
the ship. / have never even SAID
good morning" to him, but may be
cheerful enough to say good bye"
The chiel engineer, ]. R. Mackay, is
splendid man and ene of the best
beloved men on the ship. He ranked
along with the chief executive officer
Harvey, though old Harvey is of the
bluff old seaman type who could cuss
smile and be heard a mile. BotF
were human and lovable in their diff
ferent ways, and, hell! any old Graf
could run any old ship with these
men on the job.
AS for the cruise department staff
and the international marine llasor
officer, 1t was most Top HedVy
crusty and dictatorial bunch with tht
Iloudest noise securing best results
They were too utterly large for theil
Jobs. or wise versa Once booked yol
were out on limb unless you had ;
nose long enough and voice persist
ent enough to get through the gat'
first. (Of course, this does not go fol
five or six of the gang on "the staff.
1t merely alludes to the main stem
whose main idea seemed to be to SCI
that they and their friends enjoyet
the trip.
In other words, if you get sneak
in idea that you would like to worl
your way around the world on Re-
Star line cruise, don't eat up the lit
erature like goat. You should Sc
the goods-the ship and management
then start in as though you were buy
ing a string of glass beads in Japa.
or India. About the time the boa
starts to leave the shore the bead mer
chant cuts down two or five hundre
per cent.
Then, too, there are other steam
ships and other trips. With the fey
axnariences gained on this trip | ar