16 



A NEW HISTORY OF 



Let us imagine then, that, in times long gone 

 by, the present rock of Gibraltar was united to the 

 corresponding mountain called Ape's Hill, on the 

 coast of Barbary ; and that, by some tremendous 

 convulsion of nature, a channel had been made 

 between them; and had thus allowed the vast 

 Atlantic Ocean to mix its waves with those of the 

 Mediterranean Sea. 



If apes had been on Gibraltar, when the sudden 

 shock occurred, these unlucky mimickers of man, 

 would have seen their late intercourse with Africa, 

 for ever at an end. A rolling ocean, deep and 

 dangerous, would have convinced them that there 

 would never be again, another highway overland 

 from Europe into Africa, at the Straits of Gibraltar. 



Now, so long as trees were allowed to grow on 

 the rock of Gibraltar, these prisoner - apes would 

 have been pretty well off. But, in the lapse of 

 time, and change of circumstances, forced by 

 " necessity's supreme command," for want of trees, 

 they would be obliged to take to the ground, on 

 all fours, and to adopt a very different kind of life 

 from that which they had hitherto pursued. 



During the short period of winter in Gibraltar, 

 the weather is often cold and raw : most ungienial, 

 one would suppose, to the ordinary temperament 

 of a monkey tribe, left prisoners on the solitary 



