The Bible in Spain

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It was near sunset, and we were crossing the bay of Gibraltar. We
had stopped at Algeciras, on the Spanish side, for the purpose of
landing the old governor and his suite, and delivering and
receiving letters.

Algeciras is an ancient Moorish town, as the name denotes, which is
an Arabic word, and signifies "the place of the islands." It is
situated at the water's edge, with a lofty range of mountains in
the rear. It seemed a sad deserted place, as far as I could judge
at the distance of half a mile. In the harbour, however, lay a
Spanish frigate and French war brig. As we passed the former, some
of the Spaniards on board our steamer became boastful at the
expense of the English. It appeared that, a few weeks before, an
English vessel, suspected to be a contraband trader, was seen by
this frigate hovering about a bay on the Andalusian coast, in
company with an English frigate, the Orestes. The Spaniard dogged
them for some time, till one morning observing that the Orestes had
disappeared, he hoisted English colours, and made a signal to the
trader to bear down; the latter, deceived by the British ensign,
and supposing that the Spaniard was the friendly Orestes, instantly
drew near, was fired at and boarded, and proving in effect to be a
contraband trader, she was carried into port and delivered over to
the Spanish authorities. In a few days the captain of the Orestes
hearing of this, and incensed at the unwarrantable use made of the
British flag, sent a boat on board the frigate demanding that the
vessel should be instantly restored, as, if she was not, he would
retake her by force; adding that he had forty cannons on board.
The captain of the Spanish frigate returned for answer, that the
trader was in the hands of the officers of the customs, and was no
longer at his disposal; that the captain of the Orestes however,
could do what he pleased, and that if he had forty guns, he himself
had forty-four; whereupon the Orestes thought proper to bear away.
Such at least was the Spanish account as related by the journals.
Observing the Spaniards to be in great glee at the idea of one of
their nation having frightened away the Englishman, I exclaimed,
"Gentlemen, all of you who suppose that an English sea captain has
been deterred from attacking a Spaniard, from an apprehension of a
superior force of four guns, remember, if you please, the fate of
the Santissima Trinidad, and be pleased also not to forget that we
are almost within cannon's sound of Trafalgar."

It was neat sunset, I repeat, and we were crossing the bay of
Gibraltar. I stood on the prow of the vessel, with my eyes
intently fixed on the mountain fortress, which, though I had seen
it several times before, filled my mind with admiration and
interest. Viewed from this situation, it certainly, if it
resembles any animate object in nature, has something of the
appearance of a terrible couchant lion, whose stupendous head
menaces Spain. Had I been dreaming, I should almost have concluded
it to be the genius of Africa, in the shape of its most puissant
monster, who had bounded over the sea from the clime of sand and
sun, bent on the destruction of the rival continent, more
especially as the hue of its stony sides, its crest and chine, is
tawny even as that of the hide of the desert king. A hostile lion
has it almost invariably proved to Spain, at least since it first
began to play a part in history, which was at the time when Tarik
seized and fortified it. It has for the most part been in the
hands of foreigners: first the swarthy and turbaned Moor possessed
it, and it is now tenanted by a fair-haired race from a distant
isle. Though a part of Spain, it seems to disavow the connexion,
and at the end of a long narrow sandy isthmus, almost level with
the sea, raising its blasted and perpendicular brow to denounce the
crimes which deform the history of that fair and majestic land.

It was near sunset, I say it for the third time, and we were
crossing the bay of Gibraltar. Bay! it seemed no bay, but an
inland sea, surrounded on all sides by enchanted barriers, so
strange, so wonderful was the aspect of its coasts. Before us lay
the impregnable hill; on our right the African continent, with its
grey Gibil Muza, and the crag of Ceuta, to which last a solitary
bark seemed steering its way; behind us the town we had just
quitted, with its mountain wall; on our left the coast of Spain.
The surface of the water was unruffled by a wave, and as we rapidly
glided on, the strange object which we were approaching became
momentarily more distinct and visible. There, at the base of the
mountain, and covering a small portion of its side, lay the city,
with its ramparts garnished with black guns pointing significantly
at its moles and harbours; above, seemingly on every crag which
could be made available for the purpose of defence or destruction,
peered batteries, pale and sepulchral-looking, as if ominous of the
fate which awaited any intrusive foe; whilst east and west towards
Africa and Spain, on the extreme points, rose castles, towers, or
atalaias which overcrowded the whole, and all the circumjacent
region, whether land or sea. Mighty and threatening appeared the
fortifications, and doubtless, viewed in any other situation, would
have alone occupied the mind and engrossed its wonder; but the
hill, the wondrous hill, was everywhere about them, beneath them,
or above them, overpowering their effect as a spectacle. Who, when
he beholds the enormous elephant, with his brandished trunk,
dashing impetuously to the war, sees the castle which he bears, or
fears the javelins of those whom he carries, however skilful and
warlike they may be? Never does God appear so great and powerful
as when the works of his hands stand in contrast with the labours
of man. Survey the Escurial, it is a proud work, but wonder if you
can when you see the mountain mocking it behind; survey that boast
of Moorish kings, survey Granada from its plain, and wonder if you
can, for you see the Alpujarra mocking it from behind. O what are
the works of man compared with those of the Lord? Even as man is
compared with his creator. Man builds pyramids, and God builds
pyramids: the pyramids of man are heaps of shingles, tiny hillocks
on a sandy plain; the pyramids of the Lord are Andes and Indian
hills. Man builds walls and so does his Master; but the walls of
God are the black precipices of Gibraltar and Horneel, eternal,
indestructible, and not to be scaled; whilst those of man can be
climbed, can be broken by the wave or shattered by the lightning or
the powder blast. Would man display his power and grandeur to
advantage, let him flee far from the hills; for the broad pennants
of God, even his clouds, float upon the tops of the hills, and the
majesty of God is most manifest among the hills. Call Gibraltar
the hill of Tarik or Hercules if you will, but gaze upon it for a
moment and you will call it the hill of God. Tarik and the old
giant may have built upon it; but not all the dark race of whom
Tarik was one, nor all the giants of old renown of whom the other
was one, could have built up its crags or chiseled the enormous
mass to its present shape.

We dropped anchor not far from the mole. As we expected every
moment to hear the evening gun, after which no person is permitted
to enter the town, I was in trepidation lest I should be obliged to
pass the night on board the dirty Catalan steamer, which, as I had
no occasion to proceed farther in her, I was in great haste to
quit. A boat now drew nigh, with two individuals at the stern, one
of whom, standing up, demanded, in an authoritative voice, the name
of the vessel, her destination and cargo. Upon being answered,
they came on board. After some conversation with the captain, they
were about to depart, when I inquired whether I could accompany
them on shore. The person I addressed was a tall young man, with a
fustian frock coat. He had a long face, long nose, and wide mouth,
with large restless eyes. There was a grin on his countenance
which seemed permanent, and had it not been for his bronzed
complexion, I should have declared him to be a cockney, and nothing
else. He was, however, no such thing, but what is called a rock
lizard, that is, a person born at Gibraltar of English parents.
Upon hearing my question, which was in Spanish, he grinned more
than ever, and inquired, in a strange accent, whether I was a son
of Gibraltar. I replied that I had not that honour, but that I was
a British subject. Whereupon he said that he should make no
difficulty in taking me ashore. We entered the boat, which was
rapidly rowed towards the land by four Genoese sailors. My two
companions chattered in their strange Spanish, he of the fustian
occasionally turning his countenance full upon me, the last grin
appearing ever more hideous than the preceding ones. We soon
reached the quay, where my name was noted down by a person who
demanded my passport, and I was then permitted to advance.

It was now dusk, and I lost no time in crossing the drawbridge and
entering the long low archway which, passing under the rampart,
communicates with the town. Beneath this archway paced with
measured tread, tall red-coated sentinels with shouldered guns.
There was no stopping, no sauntering in these men. There was no
laughter, no exchange of light conversation with the passers by,
but their bearing was that of British soldiers, conscious of the
duties of their station. What a difference between them and the
listless loiterers who stand at guard at the gate of a Spanish
garrisoned town.

I now proceeded up the principal street, which runs with a gentle
ascent along the base of the hill. Accustomed for some months past
to the melancholy silence of Seville, I was almost deafened by the
noise and bustle which reigned around. It was Sunday night, and of
course no business was going on, but there were throngs of people
passing up and down. Here was a military guard proceeding along;
here walked a group of officers, there a knot of soldiers stood
talking and laughing. The greater part of the civilians appeared
to be Spaniards, but there was a large sprinkling of Jews in the
dress of those of Barbary, and here and there a turbaned Moor.
There were gangs of sailors likewise, Genoese, judging from the
patois which they were speaking, though I occasionally
distinguished the sound of "tou logou sas," by which I knew there
were Greeks at hand, and twice or thrice caught a glimpse of the
red cap and blue silken petticoats of the mariner from the Romaic
isles. On still I hurried, till I arrived at a well known
hostelry, close by a kind of square, in which stands the little
exchange of Gibraltar. Into this I ran and demanded lodging,
receiving a cheerful welcome from the genius of the place, who
stood behind the bar, and whom I shall perhaps have occasion
subsequently to describe. All the lower rooms were filled with men
of the rock, burly men in general, with swarthy complexions and
English features, with white hats, white jean jerkins, and white
jean pantaloons. They were smoking pipes and cigars, and drinking
porter, wine and various other fluids, and conversing in the rock
Spanish, or rock English as the fit took them. Dense was the smoke
of tobacco, and great the din of voices, and I was glad to hasten
up stairs to an unoccupied apartment, where I was served with some
refreshment, of which I stood much in need.

I was soon disturbed by the sound of martial music close below my
windows. I went down and stood at the door. A military band was
marshalled upon the little square before the exchange. It was
preparing to beat the retreat. After the prelude, which was
admirably executed, the tall leader gave a flourish with his stick,
and strode forward up the street, followed by the whole company of
noble looking fellows and a crowd of admiring listeners. The
cymbals clashed, the horns screamed, and the kettle-drum emitted
its deep awful note, till the old rock echoed again, and the
hanging terraces of the town rang with the stirring noise:

"Dub-a-dub, dub-a-dub--thus go the drums,
Tantara, tantara, the Englishman comes."

O England! long, long may it be ere the sun of thy glory sink
beneath the wave of darkness! Though gloomy and portentous clouds
are now gathering rapidly around thee, still, still may it please
the Almighty to disperse them, and to grant thee a futurity longer
in duration and still brighter in renown than thy past! Or if thy
doom be at hand, may that doom be a noble one, and worthy of her
who has been styled the Old Queen of the waters! May thou sink, if
thou dost sink, amidst blood and flame, with a mighty noise,
causing more than one nation to participate in thy downfall! Of
all fates, may it please the Lord to preserve thee from a
disgraceful and a slow decay; becoming, ere extinct, a scorn and a
mockery for those selfsame foes who now, though they envy and abhor
thee, still fear thee, nay, even against their will, honour and
respect thee.

Arouse thee, whilst yet there is time, and prepare thee for the
combat of life and death! Cast from thee the foul scurf which now
encrusts thy robust limbs, which deadens their force, and makes
them heavy and powerless! Cast from thee thy false philosophers,
who would fain decry what, next to the love of God, has hitherto
been deemed most sacred, the love of the mother land! Cast from
thee thy false patriots, who, under the. pretext of redressing the
wrongs of the poor and weak, seek to promote internal discord, so
that thou mayest become only terrible to thyself! And remove from
thee the false prophets, who have seen vanity and divined lies; who
have daubed thy wall with untempered mortar, that it may fall; who
see visions of peace where there is no peace; who have strengthened
the hands of the wicked, and made the heart of the righteous sad.
O, do this, and fear not the result, for either shall thy end be a
majestic and an enviable one, or God shall perpetuate thy reign
upon the waters, thou old Queen!

The above was part of a broken prayer for my native land, which,
after my usual thanksgiving, I breathed to the Almighty ere
retiring to rest that Sunday night at Gibraltar.

CHAPTER LII

The Jolly Hosteler--Aspirants for Glory--A Portrait--Hamalos--
Solomons--An Expedition--The Yeoman Soldier--The Excavations--The
Pull by the Skirt--Judah and his Father--Judah's Pilgrimage--The
Bushy Beard--The False Moors--Judah and the King's Son--Premature
Old Age.

Perhaps it would have been impossible to have chosen a situation
more adapted for studying at my ease Gibraltar and its inhabitants,
than that which I found myself occupying about ten o'clock on the
following morning. Seated on a small bench just opposite the bar,
close by the door, in the passage of the hostelry at which I had
taken up my temporary abode, I enjoyed a view of the square of the
exchange and all that was going on there, and by merely raising my
eyes, could gaze at my leisure on the stupendous hill which towers
above the town to an altitude of some thousand feet. I could
likewise observe every person who entered or left the house, which
is one of great resort, being situated in the most-frequented place
of the principal thoroughfare of the town. My eyes were busy and
so were my ears. Close beside me stood my excellent friend
Griffiths, the jolly hosteler, of whom I take the present
opportunity of saying a few words, though I dare say he has been
frequently described before, and by far better pens. Let those who
know him not figure to themselves a man of about fifty, at least
six feet in height, and weighing some eighteen stone, an
exceedingly florid countenance and good features, eyes full of
quickness and shrewdness, but at the same time beaming with good
nature. He wears white pantaloons, white frock, and white hat, and
is, indeed, all white, with the exception of his polished
Wellingtons and rubicund face. He carries a whip beneath his arm,
which adds wonderfully to the knowingness of his appearance, which
is rather more that of a gentleman who keeps an inn on the
Newmarket road, "purely for the love of travellers, and the money
which they carry about them," than of a native of the rock.
Nevertheless, he will tell you himself that he is a rock lizard;
and you will scarcely doubt it when, besides his English, which is
broad and vernacular, you hear him speak Spanish, ay, and Genoese
too, when necessary, and it is no child's play to speak the latter,
which I myself could never master. He is a good judge of horse-
flesh, and occasionally sells a "bit of a blood," or a Barbary
steed to a young hand, though he has no objection to do business
with an old one; for there is not a thin, crouching, liver-faced
lynx-eyed Jew of Fez capable of outwitting him in a bargain: or
cheating him out of one single pound of the fifty thousand sterling
which he possesses; and yet ever bear in mind that he is a good-
natured fellow to those who are disposed to behave honourably to
him, and know likewise that he will lend you money, if you are a
gentleman, and are in need of it; but depend upon it, if he refuse
you, there is something not altogether right about you, for
Griffiths knows HIS WORLD, and is not to be made a fool of.

There was a prodigious quantity of porter consumed in my presence
during the short hour that I sat on the bench of that hostelry of
the rock. The passage before the bar was frequently filled with
officers, who lounged in for a refreshment which the sultry heat of
the weather rendered necessary, or at least inviting; whilst not a
few came galloping up to the door on small Barbary horses, which
are to be found in great abundance at Gibraltar. All seemed to be
on the best terms with the host, with whom they occasionally
discussed the merits of particular steeds, and whose jokes they
invariably received with unbounded approbation. There was much in
the demeanour and appearance of these young men, for the greater
part were quite young, which was highly interesting and agreeable.
Indeed, I believe it may be said of English officers in general,
that in personal appearance, and in polished manners, they bear the
palm from those of the same class over the world. True it is, that
the officers of the royal guard of Russia, especially of the three
noble regiments styled the Priberjensky, Simeonsky, and Finlansky
polks might fearlessly enter into competition in almost all points
with the flower of the British army; but it must be remembered,
that those regiments are officered by the choicest specimens of the
Sclavonian nobility, young men selected expressly for the splendour
of their persons, and for the superiority of their mental
endowments; whilst, probably, amongst all the fair-haired Angle-
Saxons youths whom I now saw gathered near me, there was not a
single one of noble ancestry, nor of proud and haughty name; and
certainly, so far from having been selected to flatter the pride
and add to the pomp of a despot, they had been taken
indiscriminately from a mass of ardent aspirants for military
glory, and sent on their country's service to a remote and
unhealthy colony. Nevertheless, they were such as their country
might be proud of, for gallant boys they looked, with courage on
their brows, beauty and health on their cheeks, and intelligence in
their hazel eyes.

Who is he who now stops before the door without entering, and
addresses a question to my host, who advances with a respectful
salute? He is no common man, or his appearance belies him
strangely. His dress is simple enough; a Spanish hat, with a
peaked crown and broad shadowy brim--the veritable sombrero--jean
pantaloons and blue hussar jacket;--but how well that dress becomes
one of the most noble-looking figures I ever beheld. I gazed upon
him with strange respect and admiration as he stood benignantly
smiling and joking in good Spanish with an impudent rock rascal,
who held in his hand a huge bogamante, or coarse carrion lobster,
which he would fain have persuaded him to purchase. He was almost
gigantically tall, towering nearly three inches above the burly
host himself, yet athletically symmetrical, and straight as the
pine tree of Dovrefeld. He must have counted eleven lustres, which
cast an air of mature dignity over a countenance which seemed to
have been chiseled by some Grecian sculptor, and yet his hair was
black as the plume of the Norwegian raven, and so was the moustache
which curled above his well-formed lip. In the garb of Greece, and
in the camp before Troy, I should have taken him for Agamemnon.
"Is that man a general?" said I to a short queer-looking personage,
who sat by my side, intently studying a newspaper. "That
gentleman," he whispered in a lisping accent, "is, sir, the
Lieutenant-Governor of Gibraltar."

On either side outside the door, squatting on the ground, or
leaning indolently against the walls, were some half dozen men of
very singular appearance. Their principal garment was a kind of
blue gown, something resembling the blouse worn by the peasants of
the north of France, but not so long; it was compressed around
their waists by a leathern girdle, and depended about half way down
their thighs. Their legs were bare, so that I had an opportunity
of observing the calves, which appeared unnaturally large. Upon
the head they wore small skull-caps of black wool. I asked the
most athletic of these men, a dark-visaged fellow of forty, who
they were. He answered, "hamalos." This word I knew to be Arabic,
in which tongue it signifies a porter; and, indeed, the next
moment, I saw a similar fellow staggering across the square under
an immense burden, almost sufficient to have broken the back of a
camel. On again addressing my swarthy friend, and enquiring whence
he came, he replied, that he was born at Mogadore, in Barbary, but
had passed the greatest part of his life at Gibraltar. He added,
that he was the "capitaz," or head man of the "hamalos" near the
door. I now addressed him in the Arabic of the East, though with
scarcely the hope of being understood, more especially as he had
been so long from his own country. He however answered very
pertinently, his lips quivering with eagerness, and his eyes
sparkling with joy, though it was easy to perceive that the Arabic,
or rather the Moorish, was not the language in which he was
accustomed either to think or speak. His companions all gathered
round and listened with avidity, occasionally exclaiming, when
anything was said which they approved of: "Wakhud rajil shereef
hada, min beled bel scharki." (A holy man this from the kingdoms
of the East.) At last I produced the shekel, which I invariably
carry about me as a pocket-piece, and asked the capitaz whether he
had ever seen that money before. He surveyed the censer and olive-
branch for a considerable time, and evidently knew not what to make
of it. At length he fell to inspecting the characters round about
it on both sides, and giving a cry, exclaimed to the other hamalos:
"Brothers, brothers, these are the letters of Solomon. This silver
is blessed. We must kiss this money." He then put it upon his
head, pressed it to his eyes, and finally kissed it with enthusiasm
as did successively all his brethren. Then regaining it, he
returned it to me, with a low reverence. Griffiths subsequently
informed me, that the fellow refused to work during all the rest of
the day, and did nothing but smile, laugh, and talk to himself.

"Allow me to offer you a glass of bitters, sir," said the queer-
looking personage before mentioned; he was a corpulent man, very
short, and his legs particularly so. His dress consisted of a
greasy snuff-coloured coat, dirty white trousers, and dirtier
stockings. On his head he wore a rusty silk hat, the eaves of
which had a tendency to turn up before and behind. I had observed
that, during my conversation with the hamalos, he had several times
uplifted his eyes from the newspaper, and on the production of the
shekel had grinned very significantly, and had inspected it when in
the hand of the capitaz. "Allow me to offer you a glass of
bitters," said he; "I guessed you was one of our people before you
spoke to the hamalos. Sir, it does my heart good to see a
gentleman of your appearance not above speaking to his poor
brethren. It is what I do myself not unfrequently, and I hope God
will blot out my name, and that is Solomons, when I despise them.
I do not pretend to much Arabic myself, yet I understood you
tolerably well, and I liked your discourse much. You must have a
great deal of shillam eidri, nevertheless you startled me when you
asked the hamalo if he ever read the Torah; of course you meant
with the meforshim; poor as he is, I do not believe him becoresh
enough to read the Torah without the commentators. So help me,
sir, I believe you to be a Salamancan Jew; I am told there are
still some of the old families to be found there. Ever at Tudela,
sir? not very far from Salamanca, I believe; one of my own kindred
once lived there: a great traveller, sir, like yourself; went over
all the world to look for the Jews,--went to the top of Sinai.
Anything that I can do for you at Gibraltar, sir? Any commission;
will execute it as reasonably, and more expeditiously than any one
else. My name is Solomons. I am tolerably well known at
Gibraltar; yes, sir, and in the Crooked Friars, and, for that
matter, in the Neuen Stein Steg, at Hamburgh; so help me, sir, I
think I once saw your face at the fair at Bremen. Speak German,
sir? though of course you do. Allow me, sir, to offer you a glass
of bitters. I wish, sir, they were mayim, hayim for your sake, I
do indeed, sir, I wish they were living waters. Now, sir, do give
me your opinion as to this matter (lowering his voice and striking
the newspaper). Do you not think it is very hard that one Yudken
should betray the other? When I put my little secret beyad
peluni,--you understand me, sir?--when I entrust my poor secret to
the custody of an individual, and that individual a Jew, a Yudken,
sir, I do not wish to be blown, indeed, I do not expect it. In a
word, what do you think of the GOLD DUST ROBBERY, and what will be
done to those unfortunate people, who I see are convicted?"