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66
THE POWERFUL."

might be more unpleasant ways of travelling, than as the guest of the "skipper of a British eighty-gun ship;" and every day I passed on board the "Powerful" more fully confirmed me in this opinion. She was quite a new vessel; it was her first voyage; and, although but lately commissioned, was in the highest state of discipline; and "Old Charley" was fortunate in having a most zealous commander and capital officers-than whom, at the same time, a more gentlemanlike set of fellows did not exist, and I shall ever remember and recall with satisfaction and pleasure the time I passed in their society.

We weighed anchor next morning; but, owing to an easterly wind, which at times sank into a perfect calm, the evening was far advanced ere, clearing Europa Point, we got out of the bay. During the several tacks we were forced to make, we had full leisure to contemplate a locality so interesting by its associations, but more particularly so to every Briton, who, on viewing the Rock, cannot fail to remember with pride the names of Drake,

of Jumper, of Elliot the heroes who so valiantly won, and so obstinately defended one of the noblest trophies of British enterprise. If the scene presents an object of interest to the patriot, it is pregnant with associations to the antiquary and scholar, whose eye cannot rest on any part of this classic shore without recalling events of by-gone times-and nations of the remotest antiquity, who have successively occupied this locality.

Before the Christian era, the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, the Greeks, and the Romans, attracted by the fertility of the soil, the mildness of the climate, and favourable situation of the spot, in turns formed settlements on these favoured shores. Subsequently, the Goths and Saracens followed their footsteps; and, at a still later period, Calpe's proud rock was forced to submit to British enterprise and valour, and has ever since remained in our possession. From the earliest period, Gibraltar Bay has been an emporium of trade, even from the time when Hercules, having completed his task of forming a communica

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HISTORICAL NOTICES

tion between the Atlantic and Mediterranean, reposed his weary frame at the foot of Mount Calpe, on the present site of the good town of Gibraltar. We read also in Scripture, that Solomon sent ships every three years, for apes and peacocks, gold and silver, to Tarshish, which is generally supposed to be the Heraclea, founded by Hercules, and where are now to be seen, the ruins of Carteia, near Rocadillo, at the bottom of the bay, and at the mouth of the Guadranque river. Whatever may have been the case in the days of Solomon, gold and silver is now a very scarce commodity here; the monkeys on the Rock are so wild, that it is almost impossible to catch them; and as for the peacocks, they must have been all carried to Jerusalem, as not one is at present to be seen. Carteia, from being a Carthaginian settlement, fell into the hands of the Romans, -was the first colony established by them in Spain, and went by the name of Colonia Libertinorum, from being originally occupied by the illicit offspring of Roman soldiers and Spanish women. As in most of their foreign

settlements, the Romans have here left traces of their grandeur, which is testified by the remains of what must once have been a noble amphitheatre:

"Oh, Amphitheatre! still thy boundary stands,
Shewing the curious where, in days of yore,
The gallant cohorts and Prætorian Bands
Were wont to revel in a scene of gore;

For Horace tells us they were right good hands
At games of strength, or chance, and many more,
And of their fav'rite pastimes-not the least
Was seeing wrestlers eaten by a beast."-HORT.

To the westward of Carteia, and nearly opposite to Gibraltar, is Algesiras, whose name implies its Moorish origin, meaning the

Island," from "La Isla Verde," where the Saracen chief, Taric, is said to have landed, on his first invasion of Spain.

The day was particularly fine, even for the heavenly climate of the South of Spain, and the slight airs which had slowly wafted us into the middle of the bay gradually dying away, left us lazily floating on its deep-blue waters, thus affording time to gaze on one of the most beautiful panoramas in nature.

On the east lay the bare and rugged rock— so bare and rugged as to betray its volcanic origin the Rock par excellence, "el Peñon" of Spain, bristling with batteries, and frowning defiance on the world. Connecting it with the main land, is a low sandy tongue of ground, to the eye scarcely rising above the level of the opposite seas, and out of which appears, like a leafless wood, to spring the forestry of masts, appertaining to the numerous small craft of every description which securely lie under shelter of the proud Calpe. This is the Neutral Ground; from whence, and running in a northerly direction, rises the Sierra Carbonera, on a spur of which, and about five miles from Gibraltar, stands the small town of San Roque, whose white walls are thrown out in powerful relief by the dark cork woods mantling the heights, crowned by the old Moorish castle of Castellar, which, though full twenty miles distant, is distinctly seen through the clear transparent atmosphere. Further still, is just perceptible, on the side of the lofty Sierra, the village of Gaucin; whilst, in the