CH. I. THE CHINA OF THE WEST. 11 



deep blue water, dancing in the gentle westerly breeze. 

 On our left the steep slope of the mountain, rising over 

 against the blue outline of Cape Trafalgar, forms the portal 

 through which the Atlantic pours its current into the 

 Mediterranean. Along the opposite shore of Spain every 

 undulation, from the coast to the distant purple sierra, is 

 plainly seen. The little town of Conil and the very houses 

 of Tarifa are discernible with the naked eye, and visitors 

 are enabled through a glass to watch the people as they 

 come and go, and that extraerdinary phenomenon for 

 Southern Spain, the diligence, that of late years has plied 

 between Algeciras and Cadiz. Turning to the right, the 

 eye reaches the entrance to the Mediterranean, between 

 the rock of Gibraltar and the loftier summit of Ape's Hill ; 

 and in clear weather the range of the Serrania de Eonda, 

 stretching towards Malaga, is seen on one side, while on 

 the other the snowy peak of the Beni Hassan, south of 

 Tetuan, closes the view. To give variety, if that were 

 wanting, there is the ceaseless passage of shipping through 

 this greatest of maritime highways, in a double stream of 

 vessels, of every size and every nation, from the great 

 Peninsular and Oriental steamer to the Moorish felucca. 

 It is an example of the readiness with which sound travels 

 over an unbroken surface, that the morning and evening 

 gun at Gibraltar, nearly forty miles distant, are usually 

 heard at this spot. 



In the course of several delightful evenings passed in 

 the agreeable society of Sir J. D. Hay and his family, we 

 obtained much curious and valuable information respect- 

 ing the country and its inhabitants, most of which was 

 confirmed by our own subsequent observation and experi- 

 ence. We already knew that Marocco is the China of the 

 West, and that while other Mohammedan States have been 

 drawn, though at a tardy and halting pace, into following 

 the general movement of European progress, this has 

 remained more isolated and more impenetrable than even 

 the Celestial Empire itself. But we were scarcely pre- 



