CH. I. ASPECT OF THE TOWN. 5 



announcing the titles of various places of entertainment. 

 In the centre the ' Hotel de France' gave promise of culi- 

 nary skill ; but we preferred the ' Royal Victoria Hotel,' 

 whose title, in quite gigantic letters, first attracted our 

 notice, and which had been well recommended for cleanli- 

 ness and comfort. Our subsequent experience justified 

 the choice, and we had every reason to be satisfied with 

 the attention we received from the intelligent and oblig- 

 ing coloured proprietor, Mr. Martin. 



Tangier stands on the western side of a shallow bay, 

 on rocky ground that rises steeply from the shore. West- 

 ward the hills gradually rise in swelling undulations 

 towards the Djebel Kebir, or Great Mountain, covered 

 with dwarf oaks and flowering shrubs, that ends in the 

 promontory of Cape Spartel. On the opposite, or eastern, 

 side the shores of the bay are low and sandy, but are 

 backed by the rugged range of the Angera Mountains, 

 culminating in the Ape's Hill opposite Gibraltar. 



As seen from the sea the town has a singular, though 

 not an imposing, appearance. Cubical blocks of white- 

 washed masonry, with scarcely an opening to represent a 

 window, rise one above another on the steep slope of a 

 recess in the hills that faces the NE. A few slender 

 square towers belong to as many mosques of paltry 

 proportions. Numerous consular flagstaffs remind the 

 European that he still enjoys the protection of his own 

 government, and on the summit of the hill a massive 

 gaunt castle of forbidding aspect shows where he might 

 expect to lodge if that protection were removed, and he 

 were to give offence to the native functionaries. Zigzag 

 walls encompass the city on all sides, pierced by three 

 gates, which are closed at nightfall. 



The stranger, who knows that Tangier is one of the 

 most important towns of Marocco, and the residence of 

 the representatives of the chief civilised States, is apt to 

 be shocked when he first sets foot within its walls. The 

 main street is as rough and steep as the most neglected of 



