Towards the end of August I determined to profit by the last of the fine weather, and to take a cruise in and about the Straits, shaping my course by the will of the winds. Police and quarantine regulations are in this neighbourhood perplexing; so I first sailed to Algeciras to get letters of introduction, and such papers as would admit me at Ceuta, and the other Spanish Presidios on the African coast. The governor anticipated my request; the letters were folded, and the address put, in the Turkish fashion, _across_. The Spaniards use this form for official letters only; it is of course a remnant of the Moors. I observed also at Algeciras, that a black cord tied to a walking stick, is the mark of judicial authority, whether civil or military, and is said to be a practice of the Goths. As we were landing, the cargo of a smuggler, just brought in, was being conveyed on men’s shoulders to the royal stores. In coming across, we were enlivened with the chase of a little punt, by two scampanas. The _Terrible_, celebrated as a smuggler, and subsequently as a catcher of smugglers, lay at anchor beside us. Other vessels have been constructed on her lines, but none have equalled her speed. The rig of the smuggling boats is one large lateen-sail, the mast stayed forward, a long bowsprit, carrying a jib of like proportions, and a lateen jigger. Three sails thus compose the suit: they have nearly an upright stem, a round stern, and spread well out upon the water. The _Terrible_, as a smuggler, could have ‘run’ in one night goods to the value of £20,000. We walked in very pretty gardens of a social kind--at once public and private; they are laid out in stars, the paths diverging from centres. The gardens are separated from the path by a small ditch and a low hedge, enough to keep out an intruder, but not to intercept the view; so that each person has the profit of his own grounds, and the sight of all the others. After our walk, I was conducted to his house by the Fiscal, and we discussed ancient usages. He almost repeated Sir Francis Palgrave’s words in speaking of liberty, that the purpose of government is only to obtain adjudication. He laughed at the use of Greek words in politics, &c. I happened to refer to the address to Charles V. of the Cortes of Arragon, when they said, “How shall the king have strength to carry on war, unless the nation has examined into its causes, and found it to be expedient and just?” He expressed his astonishment at hearing such a maxim quoted by an Englishman. “For two hundred years,” said he, “Spain has injured no one, and has been unceasingly injured by England and France, without benefit to themselves.” On parting, he made me a present of Cornejo’s “Law Dictionary,” a rare work.