To this marine of the Mediterranean should be added the vessels belonging to foreign ports, which visit it for purposes of trade, and amongst which those of {34} England take the most prominent rank. The Government of Great Britain has even taken care to secure itself a place amongst the Mediterranean powers. It has occupied Gibraltar, at the eastern entrance to this basin, and taken possession of Malta, which commands its centre; and although the western entrance, formed by the Suez Canal, is not in its possession, its garrisons on Perim and the rock of Aden are able at any moment to close up the only approach to it which leads from the Indian Ocean through the Red Sea. [Illustration: Fig. 8.—STEAMER ROUTES AND TELEGRAPHS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. Scale 1 : 45,000,000.] The share which England takes in the commerce of the Mediterranean is considerable, but it is surpassed by far by that of France and Italy. A sovereign who aspired to the dominion of the world once spoke of the inland sea extending from the Strait of Gibraltar to Egypt as a “French lake;” but with equal justice might it be called a Greek, a Dalmatian, or Spanish lake, and with still greater an Italian lake. The pirates of Barbary were, in reality, the last “masters” of the Mediterranean: their swift vessels presented themselves unexpectedly before the coast towns, and carried off their inhabitants. But since their predatory fleets have been destroyed, the Mediterranean has become the common property of the world, and the meshes of an international network of maritime highways become closer from year to year. The merchantmen no longer pursue their voyages in company as they did in former times, discharging their cargo from port to port, for a single vessel may venture now into any portion of the Mediterranean in safety. Still there remain the dangers of reefs and of storms. The art of navigation has made vast progress; most of the capes, at least on the coasts of Europe, are lit up by lighthouses; the approaches to the ports are rendered easy by lightships, buoys, and beacons; but shipwrecks are nevertheless of frequent occurrence. Even large vessels founder sometimes, without leaving a stray plank behind to indicate the place of their disappearance.