VOYAGE TO ALGERIA. 



151 



fruit, in all of which he took manifest delight. Evi- 

 dently 'the hero of Kars' had fallen upon quarters 

 after his own heart. He appeared full of good nature, 

 and engaged us on the spot to dine with him that day. 



We sought the town-major for a pass to visit the 

 lines. While awaiting his arrival I purchased a stock 

 of white glass bottles, with a view to experiments on 

 the colour of the sea. Mr. Huggins and myself, who 

 wished to see the rock, were taken by Captain Salmond 

 to the library, where a model of Gibraltar is kept, and 

 where we had a useful preliminary lesson. At the 

 library we met Colonel Maberly, a courteous and 

 kindly man, who gave us good advice regarding our 

 excursion. He sent an orderly with us to the entrance 

 of the lines. The orderly handed us over to an intelli- 

 gent Irishman, who was directed to show us everything 

 that we desired to see, and to hide nothing from us. 

 We took the ' upper line,' traversed the galleries hewn 

 through the limestone ; looked through the embrasures, 

 which opened like doors in the precipice, towards the 

 hills of Spain ; reached St. George's hall, and went still 

 higher, emerging on the summit of one of the noblest 

 cliffs I have ever seen. 



Beyond were the Spanish lines, marked by a line of 

 white sentry-boxes ; nearer were the English lines, less 

 conspicuously indicated ; and between both was the 

 neutral ground. Behind the Spanish lines rose the 

 conical hill called the Queen of Spain's Chair. The 

 general aspect of the mainland from the rock is bold 

 and rugged. Doubling back from the galleries, we struck 

 upwards towards the -crest, reached the Signal Station, 

 where we indulged in 'shandy-gaff' and bread and 

 cheese. Thence to O'Hara's Tower, the highest point of 

 the rock. It was built by a former Governor, who, for- 

 getful of the laws of terrestrial curvature, thought he 

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