APPENDIX. 207 



to know any one in Gibraltar, if there were not fortunately 

 persons who make it their interest to answer for travellers, 

 carry their passports to the police-office, and obtain for them 

 permission to pass twenty -four hours within the fortress, a 

 permission which they do not refuse to extend. All these 

 difficulties which prevent the admission of foreigners, are 

 not so much from military precautions, as from the fear 

 which the English have of augmenting a population 

 already too large for such a small place as Gibraltar. 



This town offers so many advantages on account of its 

 free port and the active contraband commerce carried on 

 there with Spain, that unless some obstacles were placed, 

 it would soon be overpopulated. Nothing is more difficult 

 than to obtain permission to establish yourself there, and 

 even the governor himself has not the right to grant it 

 under some circumstances. All the officials with whom 

 I came in contact were extremely polite ; everywhere an 

 anxiety was shown for the traveller to lose as little of his 

 time as possible ; there was nothing of that tone or man- 

 ner of acting which is too often seen in similar officials 

 in other European countries. This is a trait of civilization 

 of which England may well be proud. 



I contemplated the picturesque appearance of the rock, 

 near which I had arrived, and which rises from the bed of 

 sand that unites it to terra firma, almost perpendicularly, 

 to the height of 1500 feet. At its western base, the nar- 

 row passage by which you reach the town is defended by 

 an inundation supplied by the sea, which reaches the rock, 

 and after having crossed it by a drawbridge, you find 

 yourself opposite a double front of masonry. From this 

 side then the assailant has not any chance of success. I 

 was struck on entering the streets with their animated 

 appearance, and the variety of costumes and physiogno- 

 mies. Sailors and merchants of all European nations meet 

 there ; and even the Moors of the opposite coast, with 



