Gibraltar 



stone-carving, because we never paint and gild it ourselves, 

 and are accustomed to connect all such appearances with 

 woodwork and stucco. Besides, gilding does not go well 

 with the delicate fawn-colour of stone, and destroys all that 

 intricate and minute shading which otherwise falls so softly 

 over the tracery of a sculptured surface. It is like gilding 

 the features of a statue. 



After dining at the Fonda de la Alameda^ I went on 

 board and slept on deck. Awakened by cold in the middle 

 of the night, I found we were approaching a small rocky 

 island. As we passed, its form changed suddenly, showing 

 a very sharp leaning peak. This was Gibraltar. 



I re-arranged myself among some sails, one of which I 

 half-unfurled and crept into. When I woke, we were 

 lying off Algeciras. Seen from this point, across the bay, 

 Gibraltar looks like an old man lying on his back upon a 

 couch nearly level with the sea, — some huge giant of the 

 prime who had gone to sleep there, and proved a Rip van 

 Winkle on a large and permanent scale. The face, with a 

 round bald head, resting on its pillow to the north, and the 

 articulation of the knee, are very distinct. There is a 

 ruckle in the bedclothes over his breast, as if his arms were 

 crossed. 



Gibraltar has no appearance of fortification in the dis- 

 tance — " no towers along the steep," and I should think it 

 must disappoint some hundreds of highly-fortified expecta- 

 tions annually. It is, on the whole, certainly a striking 

 rock ; but I should say you might easily pick fifty such 

 along the west coast of Scotland. But as you could not 

 carry away these little pebbles in your pocket, and drop 

 them at the mouths of important channels and seas, I 

 suppose it does not much signify. 



The straits, in passing outward beyond the ends of the 



63 



