The Sea Road to the East, Gibraltar to Wei-hai-wei: Six Lectures Prepared for the Visual Instruction Committee of the Colonial OfficeSargent, A. J. (Arthur John)
History
The Sea Road to the East, Gibraltar to Wei-hai-wei: Six Lectures Prepared for the Visual Instruction Committee of the Colonial Office
Sargent, A. J. (Arthur John)
Travel -- Guidebooks
Yet all is not bare and dry, as we shall see if we continue 15
our tour of the peninsula. We drive through the old south gate to
the Alameda gardens, the beauty spot of Gibraltar. Here are 16
shaded walks and open spaces as in an English park, though many
of the plants are strange to us. But we are even here reminded
of the fortress, since on the level parade ground we see 17
the troops of the garrison at drill in the cool of the early
morning. Our road runs through a grove of trees; there is 18
the southern suburb in front of us, and below as we turn round is
spread out the harbour and dockyard, with the calm bay of 19
Algeciras beyond. We pass more old fortifications spanning 20
the road, and come out above Europa point, the southern 21
outlook of the Rock. Here is the lighthouse, which we saw from
the steamer, standing on the low cliffs. We have left the trees
behind us and all is bare and windswept; but the fresh breeze
brings relief after the stifling heat of the town, and so in
this corner the Governor has his summer cottage. Here is a 22
view taken from it. We continue our walk round the eastern side
of the point, past the old batteries, only to find that the 23
path ends suddenly, where the hill comes sheer down into the sea.
As we have a special permit, let us climb the heights and see
what is beyond the corner. The narrow ridge with its sharp 24
peaks stretches away to the north; we are looking along its steep
eastern slope. Down below, in a little hollow, hemmed in by the
sea and the hill, is the village of Catalan Bay, with its 25
colony of Genoese fishermen, descendants of those who settled on
the Rock when the Spanish inhabitants left it two centuries ago.
Here are the fishermen and their boats at close quarters. 26
Beyond the bay is a long line of surf beating on the low eastern
shore of the isthmus, and in the distance, hidden by the mists,
the range of the Sierra Nevada. On the middle peak is the 27
signal station, with the old wall of Charles V. running down the
hillside; and behind it the aërial line joining the station to
the town. Here ends our journey. The signal station is the eye
of Gibraltar, ever watching the sea and the Strait, and ready to
give instant warning of an enemy’s coming to the guns and ships
below.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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