1830.] The Spanish Presidio on the Coast of Barb any. 55 



evidence, was convicted of carrying on a communication with the prisoners 

 and their political party in Spain. Explanation, or the offer of tendering 

 proofs in favour of his innocence were considered an impudent aggrava- 

 tion of the offence ; he was therefore thrown into prison. 



It is almost unnecessary to say the bills of lading were forged, and 

 that the whole was a deliberate plan of robbery, founded on an insight 

 into some correspondence on the subject of this cargo, which belonged to 

 another person, and which had accidentally fallen under the prisoner's 

 observation. After a lapse of some time, the Spanish authorities were 

 convinced of the fraud, and liberated the person who had innocently been 

 exposed to the loss of his liberty, but no redress could be afforded to the 

 unfortunate merchant for the loss of his money. 



The fortifications of Ceuta, on the side towards the Moorish territory, 

 are of immense height, and truly formidable. The numerous convicts 

 have from time to time erected a range of batteries which " laugh a siege 

 to scorn." Much has been added since the attack the Moors made to 

 regain possession of this place about thirty-five years since. If all the 

 embrasures were mounted with cannon, which they are not, it might on 

 the land side be ranked as impregnable ; but the poverty of the Spaniards, 

 and the spoliations of different nations, have caused the loss of the most 

 valuable bronze and brass artillery that any nation ever possessed. 



The Emperor of Morocco, in his last visit to Tangiers, passed this 

 fortress on his route from Tetuan, on approaching which he exclaimed, 

 " Ah ! that is the land of the Christians, who have given us so much 

 trouble !" It is said he raised his eyes to the walls with a wishful look, 

 but they defy the power of the Moors to make any farther efforts to take 

 the place. 



A deputation from Ceuta went out to meet the sultan in order to treat 

 regarding the boundary of their different territories, which had never till 

 then been settled. According to that invariable custom in Barbary, 

 without which it is impossible to advance a step, the deputation gave the 

 emperor some valuable presents, which induced him to settle the dis- 

 puted point according to the wish of the Spaniards. His majesty refused 

 to enter the walls of the garrison, into which his army would not of 

 course have been admitted; but requested the deputation, which con- 

 sisted of the principal military officers of the place to follow him to Tan- 

 giers, where the business was definitively arranged. 



The Spaniards have a ridiculous jealousy on the subject of the fortifi- 

 cations of Ceuta. Whilst one of our party, the late Lieutenant O 

 (who fell in the fever of Gibraltar), was sketching a view of the Barbarjr 

 mountains from the deck of his little yacht, which lay at anchor in the 

 canal which makes this place an island, we found ourselves suddenly 

 under the unexpected care of an officer and his guard, who, from the 

 ramparts above our heads, in the most violent and angry tone, hailed us 

 to desist from taking a plan of the fortifications, threatening to fire if we 

 attempted to move. The folly of such a suspicion was explained; which 

 not being inclined to believe, he held us prisoners till our offence was 

 represented to the governor, who politely sent his aide-de-camp in his 

 barge to desire us to wait on him with the sketch. On being assured 

 that it was but a view of the Barbary mountains, and that the plans of 

 the fortifications of Ceuta were too well known in England to need 

 any intention on our part to make fresh ones, he seemed satisfied with 

 the explanation ; but on producing the unfortunate sketch, an angle of 

 one of the bastions had really been introduced in the fore-ground, which 



