A Hostile Lion
Has It Almost Invariably Proved To Spain, At Least Since It First
Began To Play A Part In History, Which Was At The Time When Tarik
Seized And Fortified It.
It has for the most part been in the
hands of foreigners:
First the swarthy and turbaned Moor possessed
it, and it is now tenanted by a fair-haired race from a distant
isle. Though a part of Spain, it seems to disavow the connexion,
and at the end of a long narrow sandy isthmus, almost level with
the sea, raising its blasted and perpendicular brow to denounce the
crimes which deform the history of that fair and majestic land.
It was near sunset, I say it for the third time, and we were
crossing the bay of Gibraltar. Bay! it seemed no bay, but an
inland sea, surrounded on all sides by enchanted barriers, so
strange, so wonderful was the aspect of its coasts. Before us lay
the impregnable hill; on our right the African continent, with its
grey Gibil Muza, and the crag of Ceuta, to which last a solitary
bark seemed steering its way; behind us the town we had just
quitted, with its mountain wall; on our left the coast of Spain.
The surface of the water was unruffled by a wave, and as we rapidly
glided on, the strange object which we were approaching became
momentarily more distinct and visible. There, at the base of the
mountain, and covering a small portion of its side, lay the city,
with its ramparts garnished with black guns pointing significantly
at its moles and harbours; above, seemingly on every crag which
could be made available for the purpose of defence or destruction,
peered batteries, pale and sepulchral-looking, as if ominous of the
fate which awaited any intrusive foe; whilst east and west towards
Africa and Spain, on the extreme points, rose castles, towers, or
atalaias which overcrowded the whole, and all the circumjacent
region, whether land or sea. Mighty and threatening appeared the
fortifications, and doubtless, viewed in any other situation, would
have alone occupied the mind and engrossed its wonder; but the
hill, the wondrous hill, was everywhere about them, beneath them,
or above them, overpowering their effect as a spectacle. Who, when
he beholds the enormous elephant, with his brandished trunk,
dashing impetuously to the war, sees the castle which he bears, or
fears the javelins of those whom he carries, however skilful and
warlike they may be? Never does God appear so great and powerful
as when the works of his hands stand in contrast with the labours
of man. Survey the Escurial, it is a proud work, but wonder if you
can when you see the mountain mocking it behind; survey that boast
of Moorish kings, survey Granada from its plain, and wonder if you
can, for you see the Alpujarra mocking it from behind. O what are
the works of man compared with those of the Lord? Even as man is
compared with his creator. Man builds pyramids, and God builds
pyramids: the pyramids of man are heaps of shingles, tiny hillocks
on a sandy plain; the pyramids of the Lord are Andes and Indian
hills. Man builds walls and so does his Master; but the walls of
God are the black precipices of Gibraltar and Horneel, eternal,
indestructible, and not to be scaled; whilst those of man can be
climbed, can be broken by the wave or shattered by the lightning or
the powder blast. Would man display his power and grandeur to
advantage, let him flee far from the hills; for the broad pennants
of God, even his clouds, float upon the tops of the hills, and the
majesty of God is most manifest among the hills. Call Gibraltar
the hill of Tarik or Hercules if you will, but gaze upon it for a
moment and you will call it the hill of God. Tarik and the old
giant may have built upon it; but not all the dark race of whom
Tarik was one, nor all the giants of old renown of whom the other
was one, could have built up its crags or chiseled the enormous
mass to its present shape.
We dropped anchor not far from the mole. As we expected every
moment to hear the evening gun, after which no person is permitted
to enter the town, I was in trepidation lest I should be obliged to
pass the night on board the dirty Catalan steamer, which, as I had
no occasion to proceed farther in her, I was in great haste to
quit. A boat now drew nigh, with two individuals at the stern, one
of whom, standing up, demanded, in an authoritative voice, the name
of the vessel, her destination and cargo. Upon being answered,
they came on board. After some conversation with the captain, they
were about to depart, when I inquired whether I could accompany
them on shore. The person I addressed was a tall young man, with a
fustian frock coat. He had a long face, long nose, and wide mouth,
with large restless eyes. There was a grin on his countenance
which seemed permanent, and had it not been for his bronzed
complexion, I should have declared him to be a cockney, and nothing
else. He was, however, no such thing, but what is called a rock
lizard, that is, a person born at Gibraltar of English parents.
Upon hearing my question, which was in Spanish, he grinned more
than ever, and inquired, in a strange accent, whether I was a son
of Gibraltar. I replied that I had not that honour, but that I was
a British subject. Whereupon he said that he should make no
difficulty in taking me ashore. We entered the boat, which was
rapidly rowed towards the land by four Genoese sailors. My two
companions chattered in their strange Spanish, he of the fustian
occasionally turning his countenance full upon me, the last grin
appearing ever more hideous than the preceding ones.
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