A FORTRESS OF THE CENTURIES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXI, Issue II, 9 July 1898, Page 40

A FORTRESS OF THE CENTURIES.

THE presence of the American fleet off the coasts of Spain and the developments that may arise therefrom should invest with special interest at this time the pictures of England’s impregnable fortress in Spain, and the following picturesque account of a visit to it which appeared some years ago in a contemporary.

It was at night that 1 first realised that 1 was on the Rock of Al Tarik, in one of the yellow tinted houses that surround and encircle its rocky sides. The midnight gun sounded from the fort and flashed a lighter smoke between me ami the sky. Then the sense of living on an English fortified stronghold, and of the protection of the British lion’s roar, gave me an accession of that feeling of strangeness which is the sensation most sought for in a foreign land and often sought in vain. So unconsciously does our life assimilate itself to the odd customs of other countries, that many a time we feel defrauded in not being able to summon the new impressions pursued with such vain efforts.

All day we had felt the massive rock towering over us, its stern, gray side broken only in places where a peach orchard bloomed in pale pinks or a clump of orange ' trees snowed down their white petals to soften its ruggedness. One would suppose the embattled walls, ramparts, and barracks, and the sentinels starting up around sharp corners, the red incarnation of war itself, would have made us feel the nature of our habitation. The fact is, the character of Gibraltar is so disguised with overrunning vines and flowers, that it seems as if Nature in a very praiseworthy manner were seeking to cover the destructiveness of warfare and making amends for men’s savageness by concealing it under the jungle of green things; even the great Victoria battery fires shot and shell from under acacia blossoms which completely ambush the one-hundred-ton gun, which is painted a natural green, hardly distinguishable from the garden shrubbery.

Stepping- off the tug which brought us from the ship to the pier, we landed among a crowd of infuriated AngloSpaniards and shuffling Moors, who toppled over each other in efforts to present the bit of brass held high in the air, which indicated a number corresponding to one in the row of carriage lamps; and in the bargaining which followed, and the difficulty of settling a price, all our fitting thoughts were driven away, and we did not experience the oddity of the situation until an officer marshalled us to the guard-house and issued a permit on which was printed permission to remain on the rock until the sunset gun, conditional on good behaviour. This incident quite overtopped the flower disguises of the garrison. Enraged by the hustling -and cadaverous native throng about- us. 1 was perfectly unconcerned about this square of blue paper until the landlord declined to allow any one to register without its delivery, promising

to procure another for the following day. In fact, the military regulations are severe enough, as 1 began to find on a longer stay.'An amusing story is told in Gibraltar of an English soldier who lost his heart to an officer’s daughter on the voyage hither from England. Impatient to behold his sweetheart again, he set out for her house the very evening of landing, but unluckily entered the outer gate just as the sunset gun closed the inner one, so the importunate lover spent the night miserably pacing the pavement between them. Gibraltar has fared strangely in the hands of fortune. Dedicated by the colonising Moors with an inscription in the castle mosque to the ‘God of Peace, the great Pacificator,’ it has become the stronghold of war, and even the quiet Franciscan convent has evolved into the governor’s palace, where balls and functions make it gay and festive.

That we were only here on sufference might be easily known without the medium of the permits. In fact, we were unwelcome at best in the eyes of the British. Most inhospitable garrison orders have existed without repeal since 1720, which give the governor the power to expel all undesirable persons and insist on 'the absence of all rights of residence.’

Further enactments of the same sort state that the fortress having only limited space, no alien can be admitted except to supply the wants of the garrison. Plainly we cannot come under that head; therefore, no alien can have any ground for complaint if excluded. The necessity for precaution against overcrowding seems clear enough in face of the fearful epidemics which have occurred under British rule, and indeed in former times a census was taken on the rock with

the strange object of checking the growth of a population deemed dangerous to the health of the fortress. The more military Gibraltar became, the more the regulations increased. In the early part of this century a law existed refusing a resident license to marry an alien unless they should leave the garrison. All through the day I wanted to use my kodak and catch the strange street scenes, but another regulation exists against an attempt in this line; nor could pencilled notebooks be taken out in view of the police. We sighted Gibraltar at nine. The passengers had crowded the decks since early morning casting their eyes toward the Spanish coast, and then with one accord shifting to the opposite side of the vessel at some exclamation aroused by the African shore, and the unfamiliar square towers crowning pointed peaks. The bay of Gibraltar, which lapped the gray ramparts with its still blue waters, was not good ground for anchorage, and we cast several places before finding good holding ground. The signal station had done its mission well, and the announcement made in the streets an hour ago that the Kaiser was sighted, had effectually aroused the rigid Spanish boatmen, asleep on the water, out of their dreams, and in the twinkling of an eye transformed them into beasts of prey. Theirs were the advancing green boats with rows of yellow oranges lining both sides, propelled as if by demoniac energy over the two miles of intervening water. They arrive fiercely in a bunch, all screaming and pushing their neighbours in efforts to attract the steerage passengers, who lean far out on the rail and drop their shining pesetas into the black, outstretched hands; then

a coarse basket is drawn up to the deck freighted with a hundred oranges.

On land the scene is summer, and an almost Italian atmosphere brightens the butter-coloured buildings which make a steep dado around the mountains above the stone garrison wall. Snow rarely falls; the Calpi hunt club may have their meets all winter, a most gracious providence having arranged this to suit English needs. The hounds meet twice a week, but the hunting is, of course, in Spain, at least fourteen miles away from the rock, where the country is usually unfenced and open, but wooded, craggy, and stiff enough in parts to delight the cooped-up Englishman’s adventurous heart. Up the street trots a stout pony with a necklace of sleigh bells and a Spanish, nail-studded harness mended with bright beads, but too late in the day to save the proverbial nine stitches. Street, did I say? No; the corner signs are distinctly lettered Luck Lane, Horseback Lane, Bedlam Tramp, Sand Pits, Scud Hill, Yank Ramp Hotel; and I am glad of a distinctive nomenclature as rightful to Gibraltar. Through these lanes came the moving throng of elements which make up the Anglo-Spanish town. The bristling strides of the Northmen, the shuffling steps of the Spaniards, dressed in a compromise costume of English cloth, Spanish cut, with Moorish scantiness. Invariably on the warmest side of the Alameda gardens are the figures of the Moors, transfixed against the sun - baked walls; overhead a single palm breaks the blue sky-line, and the Arabs, with yellow slippers and brown legs below a hooded garment, unconsciously pose for an ‘oeuvre posthume’ of Gerome. Just now an Englishwoman mounted on a high-bred hunter gallops past, throwing the time-dial seven centuries ahead, the two pictures of real life suggesting the well-known cartoon of the progress of costume in a thousand years, which in this case was but a day. Spanish veils and Regent-street bonnets dating in style anywhere in the present century, worn above the Madonna parting of soft, black hair, represent the headgear of the women, and the complexions under them range in tint from the rich brown meerschaum burned on by summer sun, to the transplanted roses of the British islands. From the post of observation in our high-canopied vehicle, we look down on the stone paved streets with an astonished surprise at their absolute cleanliness, although the absence of visible effort in this direction is noticeable. An effective ordinance of 1,730 seems in part accountable not only for the good condition of the streets, but for the undisturbed security of the cats, whose neighbourly night signs are an adieu to sleep. ‘lf any dead cat, broken glass or dirty water be found before any person’s door, he 1 shall be fined a cob (dollar), and if the neglect cannot be fixed on any person in particular, the one on either side shall also pay.’ Self-interest and fines, then, should be the final solution of the street-cleaning problem. The hotel, which is frequented by

officers and soldiers off duty, belongs to the genus Espagnol, no trace of its English prototype appearing unless in tile dress of the servants, copied minutely from the conventional English livery in striped, starched purple and white muslin.

We follow our luggage through the arched doorway, which is in no way different in aspect, from a hundred similar ones on both sides of the street, and the commercial return for value received for the carriage hire from the station, was two pesetas demanded by the driver, full advantage having been taken of our foreign ignorance by the shrewd native.

Visible through the blue-tiled vestibule is the square, open court locally called Casa, with galleries superficially ornate enclosing it from above, where a clean kitchen overlooks the square, central court. An accumulation of green lettuce leaves and garden stuff appeared in the window, in process of having a watery dip for the table d’hote set in an opposite apartment, where later a potpourri of international dishes is served, ending with cheese and crisp, red radishes. They served bream, the best of forty-five kinds of fish which create the wealth that flows from the curious straw baskets in the market into the pockets of the fisherman. Among the curiosities of early administration is the order forbidding ‘any fisherman to sell his fish until the servant of the governor has bought what he requires.’ The tardy arrival of the servant would naturally bring about a general bankruptcy among the owners of spoiled and unsaleable wares. Discipline of another character existed in the olden days of Gibraltar. Another command, issued in 1730, declares that ‘on account of the scarcity of flour, soldiers are not to have their hair powdered until further orders,’ which probably effectually increased the bread rations at the expense of vanity. The port of Gibraltar possesses the charm of the loveliest sea view in the world, and the many Indian and Chinese steamers that take advantage of its convenient position to coal and replenish their larders do not obscure the outlook over rhe Mediterranean waters. This goodl.v bay is, moreover, agreeably safe and protected, not only by the usual sanitary precautions, but there is a fixed law which orders off to quarantine all steamers so unfortunate as to earrry gunpowder* or petroleum in their cargo, and the red and yellow flags glare furiously at each other within their watery palings.

No Customs duties are levied on tobacco or spirits; the bristling attitude of the British toward other imports inclines them to look leniently on these luxuries. I am told that in Spain, just across the line, these duties are strictly enforced wherever the police are not overcome by the dolce far nientc of their countrymen. A few, however, do not seem afflicted with the national langour, and have devised a system of smuggling by means of dogs, which are brought up to the north front by sea and landed quietly at night in some little bay bertween the coast sentries. Several pounds of tobacco are then attached to the dogs’ collars, and they are set off: at a run for home just over the line.

That picturesque accessory to every European town —the market—was conspicuously present, flaunting unabashed the borrowed growth of Valencia melons; grapes from Malaga, and netted canewood bags with poultry' from Morocco, and the formidable looking meats which settled the food question for the garrison. Just outside some peasants were buying carrots and small cabbages from donkey panniers, principally because there was nothing else. Truly there is a similarity in markets, very' trying to a person who reveres veracity. If my Gibraltar market only relates a wellknown tale, it is due to the world’s lack of originality when it sends the usual supply of eggs, milk, and butter to one quarter, makes a winding labyrinth of ducks and chickens, and conveniently near heaps the familiar fruits and vegetables in masses of varied colours, thrown out by the highwalled background--all with a faithful lack of imagination that is common to all market places. Passing through the town, up among the cypress trees of Southport-

•Craft carrying; gunpowder or petroleum are obliged to fly a red flag.

street, there stands the plain official residence of the governor, the former convent of Franciscan friars, where the strange contrasts of the longvanished past culminate in the old choir chapel which forms the present garrison ball-room, and one wonders if it has reconciled itself in the slightest degree to the unsympathetic worldliness of its surroundings. The stained windows now show the shields and mottoes of Gibraltar notables, in orange, green, and yellow strips of coloured glass, and on other panels are emblazoned the arms of Moorish califs who governed the stronghold from 711 to 1463, and the kingly crest of Spanish kings who required their military souvenirs to be carved and painted everywhere on the beautiful cedar doorways. These inserted panels are believed to be made from the wood cast on shore from wrecks of Spanish ships which attacked the fortress in the eighteenth century; and indeed it seems extremely probable, in view of the existence of certain shot holes repaired with very elementary skill.

With blind confidence in the truthfulness of native guides, we stopped at the gate of this beautiful garden to procure a pass to visit the barracks and fortifications. The military secretary had gone away, but would be back directly, was the answer finally announced by the hack driver, who had been taking much valuable time in prolonged conversation with tne secretary’s pretty servant. Resign ed but cheerful we remained silent in our little white-curtained carriage while the Spanish cabby proposed to go and search for him, and the horse leisurely munched his dinner spread on the pavement. No one passed by. The day was at its full, and Gibraltar rested from its labours. An interminable time we sat listening for the returning steps of the hawk-faced Spaniard, and the pesetas for the hackney hire rolled up as the hot afternoon slipped past. At length the man appeared, his unruffled demeanour under reproaches due in great measure to his having had a good lunch at the corner cafe, lie declares with a distressed look on his sallow face, that he had sought in vain the necessary official, and we must go to the American Consul for a. permit. Too tired to object to anything, we mount another street, and on the second floor of a. Spanish apartment, where the long French windows opened on a. small palm garden, a permit was at last secured from a gracious, old-fashioned gentleman, whose softened American accent was possibly the effect of having been Consul here for forty-five years. Confirming this was his simple statement, ‘and my father was here fifteen years before me.’ Conscious of having a deepened respect for our diplomatic service, and especially its civil service clauses, we were too much surprised for remarks, and passed outward and onward toward the ‘great sight of Gibraltar,’ the fortified galleries. Higher and higher we zig-zagged’ between the rows of meek, flat-faced stone houses which group among the fortifications and almost rub noses ag-ainst the batteries, as if to get on friendly terms and secure a safe shelter. In point of plain fact, these numerous dwellings are the menace to Gibraltar—its most vulnerable side. I do not speak with the knowledge of an expert, but it is not necessary to look very close a.t this unbroken line of inflammable buildings without seeing that, in the event of a successful firing of the town so much smoke would ascend to the fortified heights above as to overcome the soldiers and make their situation untenable from the heat.

Half way up the mountain, the long line of galleries trails out from the ferny roadside entrance. A red-coated gunner touched his soldier hat, signifying that he was to take us in charge, or rather in tow, and then started out at a pace which effectually closed all verba] communication, with him, unless by shouting. A long, iron key turneel a loek in an iron gate, which eaged the fortifications, and it clicked again ominously behind us as we entered the tunnel blasted out of the entrance. Winding up the mountain side, this long line of galleries is pierced through the limestone roek and divided into two ranges called Windsor and Union. Both are splendid in size, and steal along the sloping sides in a most ornamentally seductive way, and embrasures are blasted out in different parts for heavy guns. Joyous and in sure possession of even the rounded openings, the great guns blink sleepily in the sunshine and

yield good naturedly to subjection, as Milton say: ‘Jupiter on Juno smiles when he impregns the clouds that shed May flowers.’ This ended our privileged curiosity, as Great Britain keeps an anxious eye on all efforts tending to the enlightenment of strangers on her fortified rock, and so there was no question of going further in unlocking the mysteries of the key to India.

To all appearances, from our post of observation to the sky line, the place bristled with guns. The serious looking batteries bring their iron faces to bear on incoming stranger ships with unrelenting scrutiny. For artillery purposes Gibraltar is divided into eight fortified districts, constantly strengthened and remodelled, making the show end of the roek a perfect network of shot and shell, and constituting the regulation defensive arrangements which hold the fortress as between the mighty paws of the British lion.

At this period of our sight-seeing a crumb of information was gratefully received from the owner of a plumed hat and a red coat, who told us with inconsiderate brevity that the quartermaster’s unpretending yellow department contained supplies, constantly renewed, sufficient to sustain a siege for three years.

Dame Nature’s intentions toward the rock havechanged according to her feminiinje rights. To the relentless climatic condition which formed the oldest portions, succeeded a genial, pleasant land, which in turn was followed by the subsidence of a. large part of the roek to about seven hundred feet below its present level. This resulted in the erosion of theledgesand platforms. Then another upheaval united Africa and the Continent of Europe again, and finally, not lastly, perhaps, another disunion occurred, which decreed a new separation tor the pillars of Hercules and a distinct destiny for the two nations.

Contented with the christening, the rock remained uninhabited by its I’henician sea conquerors until the great chief, Tarik-Ibn-Zeyad, coveting the best Spanish post of communication with Africa, built the round castle of Gibel-Tarik on the mountain of Tarik, which, dropping the hyphen, has been anglicised into Gibraltar, 711 A.D. The Moors held out in a chequered but irresistible way for a period of seven hundred and fifty-one years, and were even able to send a remarkable army into Spain to defeat the Christian forces of Castile at Badajos. The first time the Johat.u-1-Tatch (mountain of victory) was exposed to a regular siege it fell ingloriously enough, and from the first foothold' of the eager Moslems in Europe, it became the last, left to the old conquerors of Spain. The aleaid of Algeciras was the hero to whom the enemies of the Holy Faith surrendered it. and this was the eighth siege experienced by the soldiers of the rock. The ninth order was undertaken by a Duke of Medina-Sidonia, whose first act was the filial one of removing the body of his father, drowned during a. retreat in the seventh siege, which had remained since that day suspended in a coffin, over the gate of the Boreina. Another Duke of Medina most unsuccessfully attempted to blockade and besiege the fortress, and it was then the seal of the holy city of Gibraltar, the key of Spain, was granted a coat of arms consisting of a castle with a gold key, as a reward for the bravery of the inhabitants.

Again the scene changes, now a penal settlement and then pillaged by Corsairs, bombarded by the French, and finally restored to the English, who have had it since the peace of Utrecht. Assisted by supposed incombustible and insubmergible batteries, the overawing ships, propelled by one sail, from one hundred to one thousand four hundred tonnage, were battered and burned by the garrison guns raining down shot and shell from the limestone rock, whose perpedicular boundaries ‘Hercules ordained were not to be overstepperl by man.’ but whose acquisition changed the motto of the haughty Charles the Fifth.