VOYAGE TO ALGERIA. 113 
the creature's tail, but was carried many porpoise-lengths 
behind it. 
To our right we had the "African hills, illuminated by 
the moon. Gibraltar Rock at length became visible, but 
the town remained long hidden by a belt of haze, through 
which at length the brighter lamps struggled. It was 
like the gradual resolution of a nebula into stars. As the 
intervening depth became gradually less, the mist vanished 
more and more, and finally all the lamps shone through it. 
They formed a bright foil to the somber mass of rock above 
them. The sea was so calm and the scene so lovely that 
Mr. Huggins and myself stayed on deck till near midnight, 
when the ship was moored. During our walking to and i 
fro a striking enlargement of the disk of Jupiter was 
observed, whenever the heated air of the funnel came be- 
tween us and the planet. On passing away from the 
heated air, the flat dim disk would immediately shrink to 
a luminous point. The effect was one of visual persistence. 
The retinal image of the planet was set quivering in all 
azimuths by the streams of heated air, describing in quick 
succession minute lines of light, which summed themselves 
to a disk of sensible area. 
At six o'clock next, morning, the gun at the signal 
station on the summit of the rock, boomed. At eight the 
band on board the Trafalgar training-ship, which was in 
the harbor, struck up the national anthem; and immediately 
afterward a crowd of mite-like cadets swarmed up the 
rigging. After the removal of the apparatus belonging to 
the Gibraltar party we went on shore. Winter was in 
England when we left, but here we had the warmth of 
summer. The vegetation was luxuriant palm trees, cac- 
tuses, and aloes, all ablaze with scarlet flowers. A visit to 
the governor was proposed, as an act of necessary courtesy, 
and I accompanied Admiral Ommaney and Mr. Huggins to 
" the Convent," or Government House. We sent in our 
cards, waited for a time, and were then conducted by an 
orderly to his excellency. He is a fine old man, over six 
feet high, and of frank military bearing. He received us 
and conversed with us in a very genial manner. He took 
us to see his garden, his palms, his shaded promenades, 
and his orange-trees loaded with fruit, in all of which he 
took manifest delight. Evidently "the hero of Kars *^_ 
had fallen upon quarters after his own heart. He appeared 
