I Have Heard The Ballad Of Alonzo Guzman
Chanted In Danish, By A Hind In The Wilds Of Jutland; But
Once
speaking of "the Faithful" to some inhabitants of Tarifa, they
replied that they had never heard of Guzman the
Faithful of Tarifa,
but were acquainted with Alonzo Guzman, "the one-eyed" (el tuerto),
and that he was one of the most villainous arrieros on the Cadiz
road.
The voyage of these narrow seas can scarcely fail to be interesting
to the most apathetic individual, from the nature of the scenery
which presents itself to the eye on either side. The coasts are
exceedingly high and bold, especially that of Spain, which seems to
overthrow the Moorish; but opposite to Tarifa, the African
continent, rounding towards the south-west, assumes an air of
sublimity and grandeur. A hoary mountain is seen uplifting its
summits above the clouds: it is Mount Abyla, or as it is called in
the Moorish tongue, Gibil Muza, or the hill of Muza, from the
circumstance of its containing the sepulchre of a prophet of that
name. This is one of the two excrescences of nature on which the
Old World bestowed the title of the Pillars of Hercules. Its
skirts and sides occupy the Moorish coast for many leagues in more
than one direction, but the broad aspect of its steep and
stupendous front is turned full towards that part of the European
continent where Gibraltar lies like a huge monster stretching far
into the brine. Of the two hills or pillars, the most remarkable,
when viewed from afar, is the African one, Gibil Muza. It is the
tallest and bulkiest, and is visible at a greater distance; but
scan them both from near, and you feel that all your wonder is
engrossed by the European column. Gibil Muza is an immense
shapeless mass, a wilderness of rocks, with here and there a few
trees and shrubs nodding from the clefts of its precipices; it is
uninhabited, save by wolves, wild swine, and chattering monkeys, on
which last account it is called by the Spaniards, Montana de las
Monas (the hill of the baboons); whilst, on the contrary,
Gibraltar, not to speak of the strange city which covers part of
it, a city inhabited by men of all nations and tongues, its
batteries and excavations, all of them miracles of art, is the most
singular-looking mountain in the world - a mountain which can
neither be described by pen nor pencil, and at which the eye is
never satiated with gazing.
It was near sunset, and we were crossing the bay of Gibraltar. We
had stopped at Algeciras, on the Spanish side, for the purpose of
landing the old governor and his suite, and delivering and
receiving letters.
Algeciras is an ancient Moorish town, as the name denotes, which is
an Arabic word, and signifies "the place of the islands." It is
situated at the water's edge, with a lofty range of mountains in
the rear. It seemed a sad deserted place, as far as I could judge
at the distance of half a mile. In the harbour, however, lay a
Spanish frigate and French war brig. As we passed the former, some
of the Spaniards on board our steamer became boastful at the
expense of the English. It appeared that, a few weeks before, an
English vessel, suspected to be a contraband trader, was seen by
this frigate hovering about a bay on the Andalusian coast, in
company with an English frigate, the Orestes. The Spaniard dogged
them for some time, till one morning observing that the Orestes had
disappeared, he hoisted English colours, and made a signal to the
trader to bear down; the latter, deceived by the British ensign,
and supposing that the Spaniard was the friendly Orestes, instantly
drew near, was fired at and boarded, and proving in effect to be a
contraband trader, she was carried into port and delivered over to
the Spanish authorities. In a few days the captain of the Orestes
hearing of this, and incensed at the unwarrantable use made of the
British flag, sent a boat on board the frigate demanding that the
vessel should be instantly restored, as, if she was not, he would
retake her by force; adding that he had forty cannons on board.
The captain of the Spanish frigate returned for answer, that the
trader was in the hands of the officers of the customs, and was no
longer at his disposal; that the captain of the Orestes however,
could do what he pleased, and that if he had forty guns, he himself
had forty-four; whereupon the Orestes thought proper to bear away.
Such at least was the Spanish account as related by the journals.
Observing the Spaniards to be in great glee at the idea of one of
their nation having frightened away the Englishman, I exclaimed,
"Gentlemen, all of you who suppose that an English sea captain has
been deterred from attacking a Spaniard, from an apprehension of a
superior force of four guns, remember, if you please, the fate of
the Santissima Trinidad, and be pleased also not to forget that we
are almost within cannon's sound of Trafalgar."
It was neat sunset, I repeat, and we were crossing the bay of
Gibraltar. I stood on the prow of the vessel, with my eyes
intently fixed on the mountain fortress, which, though I had seen
it several times before, filled my mind with admiration and
interest. Viewed from this situation, it certainly, if it
resembles any animate object in nature, has something of the
appearance of a terrible couchant lion, whose stupendous head
menaces Spain. Had I been dreaming, I should almost have concluded
it to be the genius of Africa, in the shape of its most puissant
monster, who had bounded over the sea from the clime of sand and
sun, bent on the destruction of the rival continent, more
especially as the hue of its stony sides, its crest and chine, is
tawny even as that of the hide of the desert king.
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