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 

 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 



