378 COFFEE. 



I proceeded to Cadiz by way of Gibraltar, stopping at that famous 

 place long enough to visit the fortifications which have such a 

 world-wide reputation. I must confess that I was somewhat dis- 

 appointed in these, as I had formed an idea that it was an almost 

 wholly inaccessible rock rising abruptly from the water and brist- 

 ling with cannon at every point. In point of fact, it is nothing 

 of the kind ; a narrow, flat neck of land runs out from the Spanish 

 coast, ending in a promontory or knob of higher ground, and, while 

 one side of it is exceedingly rocky and precipitous, the other is 

 quite accessible, has considerable soil and vegetation, and upon 

 this side has sprung up a small city of, perhaps, 15,000 or 20,000 

 inhabitants, whose chief business consists in supplying the wants of 

 shipping, as well as of the garrison and the families of the officers 

 who reside there ; like all English colonies, it has good roads and 

 pleasant gardens. There has also been quite a trade done from 

 this place in smuggling goods into Spain, principally tobacco, but 

 under the recent treaty agreements with England, Gibraltar is no 

 longer a free port, and a heavy English duty is imposed upon to- 

 bacco landed here, much to the chagrin of the adventurers who 

 made a living by evading the Spanish revenue. The galleries cut 

 into the rock on the precipitous side, which have so long been 

 considered a wonder of the world, are really very extensive and 

 curious, although they are not esteemed so formidable in modern 

 warfare as the recently constructed batteries lower down along 

 the water-front. It is upon these that the attention of the British 

 Government has been directed of late years, and here is where 

 the heaviest guns are mounted. These are not, perhaps, more 

 than fifty to one hundred feet above the water, while those in the 

 galleries are far up upon the cliffs, at various altitudes ranging 

 from eight hundred to twelve hundred feet. The most impor- 

 tant of the rock-cut galleries were constructed by the British in 

 the beginning of this century, but certain of them date back to 

 a much earlier period, some even having been constructed, it 

 is said, by the Moors during their occupation of Spain. The 

 neck of land connecting Gibraltar proper with the main land is 

 jointly occupied by British and Spanish troops, with a neutral 

 ground, perhaps half a mile wide, between them. The Straits 

 which here separate Europe from Africa look, perhaps, five or six 



