up our traps, got into the skiff, and proceeded on our voyage of discovery amongst the caves and grottoes at the back of the rock, for it was too late to think of any more pigeon-shooting on that day.

The "Cueva Negra" was the last of these darksome and gloomy retreats we visited; after which we glided into the secluded little nook called "La Galeta," but more generally known as Catalan Bay, the quiet and romantic abode of a small colony of Genoese fishermen, who have completely monopolized the place. An outpost from the garrison, under the command of a captain, is established here, whose head-quarters is marked by the imposing presence of a couple of six-pounders,-in front of which,--with measured pace," proudly struts the sentinel erect."

Here two or three of the party landed with the intention of walking round to the Landport Gate, under the "North Front;" and the lengthening shadow of the Giant Calpe, now stretching for miles across the smooth waters of the Meditterranean,* warned us that no time was to be lost if we wished to reach the Barriers before the setting sun should shut us out for the night. Leaving, therefore, the "Devil's Tower" on one side, and the slaughter-houses on the other, we passed under the frowning embrasures of St. George's Hall, and the "Galleries,"t the thickly-tenanted Burial-ground, the Inundation, over the "Devil's Mouth," and entered Bay-side Barrier just as the "key-serjeant" was approaching to close the gates for the night.

So much for a specimen of our summer operations on-or rather under the Rock. Those who were fond of boating had ample scope for their taste; and, if they provided themselves with a little flour or sand mixed up with blood, and a set of strong hooks and lines,might vary their pastime by catching in the middle of the gulf, as many mackerel as they could carry; or, running over to the opposite shore, a little to the southward of Algeciras, eat, during the season, their fill of grapes and figs at " Sandy Bay."

But, in the "gentle craft" of old Izaak Walton, we had yet another resource wherewith to while away the long summer days -viz., for hours, with rod and fly to flog the waters of the Gua

*The effect of the shadow cast by a high rock or mountain across the sea at this hour, can only be imagined by such as have witnessed it. Pliny says, that the shadow of Mount Atlas at sunset reached to the market-place of Imbros, a distance of between eighty and ninety miles. The gates of Gibraltar are always closed at sunset, after which no one is admitted. A great number of bullocks from Barbary, for the use of the troops, terminate, at this slaughter-house, their mortal career, in a different manner from the conclusion of the same ceremony in England, where the ox is first felled with a blow from a sledge-hammer; here, the head of the animal being forcibly held to the ground, by a rope rove through a ring in the floor; one sharp blow from a short knife is struck into the spinal marrow, behind the horns, causing instantaneous death.

†These wonderful excavations, began about the year 1785, run along the whole of the north face of the rock, their guns sweeping the extent of the "Devil's Mouth," as the Spaniards emphatically call the long causeway forming the entrance to the "Plaza." By the bye, his Infernal Majesty has numerous possessions_at Gibraltar, including the "Devil's Bellows," the "Devil's Bowling Green," the "Devil's Tongue," and the "Devil's Tower;" in short, it is altogether a devil of a place."

dranque, or First River. Old John Anderson was our greatest proficent in this delightful pastime. One burning morning in the month of July, I remember right well rousing John off his couch, where, with book in hand, he had apparently settled himself down to doze away the day. "Come, John," said I, " rouse up; get your tackle out, and let's be off to the First River: 'tis infernally hot here, and we shall have an opportunity of getting a basket-full of fish, and inhaling the fresh air as it sweeps over the bay; for, see, the wind is south-westerly, and we are sure to have sport." John at first demurred--the spirit of sloth appeared to prevail, till, after a great deal of urging, he at last consented, and another half hour saw us, -fully equipped,-trotting along the line wall, over the portcullis at Landport, across the "Devil's Mouth," and—it being low water, -with a fine, hard, sandy beach at our disposal, we must needs breathe our nags on that level space, and as we went along like the wind, my companion merrily chanted from Cotton,

Then, as we came across the groups of fishermen, who, hauling in their nets, disposed their bright and glittering contents in dazzling heaps on the wet sands, John-who knew every line of both old Izaak and Cotton-would suddenly change his tune, and, diving into the sentimental, exclaim

"Ah! would thou knewest how much it better were

To bide among the simple fisher swains:

No shrieking owl, no night-crow lodgeth here,
Nor is our simple pleasure mixed with pains.

Our sports begin with the beginning year,

In calms to pull the leaping fish to land,

In roughs to sing and dance along the golden sand."

Cantering thus gaily along, we shortly left behind us Carteïa's ruined amphitheatre, and, passing Rocadillo, our horses were soon snugly lodged in the stables of a little venta on the banks of the First River, where having adjusted our tackle, we proceeded to flog most unmercifully its gentle stream.

Old Izaak, in the rules for the construction of his "twelve flies," saith, that for July is to be used the "blue dun dubbing of the down of a water-mouse, and the bluish dun of an old fox, mixed together, warped with sad ash-coloured silk wings, of a shepstare's quill feather;" but, however applicable the rules of the old "Father of the Angle" might be to his native streams, experience had taught us that Spanish fishes would not always listen to this plausible language of "Piscator:" we therefore invariably broke through

his rules, and feathered our own hooks in the manner we found attended with most general success.

This of course varied according to the day, the wind, &c. ; but we usually found that a great bunch of white feathers for the wings, with yellow worsted, gold thread for the body, and a red hackle, answered our purpose; I say our, though—strictly speaking-John and one or two other veterans in the art, were the only ones who succeeded in inveigling the "scaly leapers" from their native element; and,—with shame be it confessed-my patience never could hold out more than a quarter of an hour; when, if I did not get half a dozen rises, I used to wander up the verdant banks of the Guadranque, lined-without the fiction of poetrynot only with both "sweet bays and lovely myrtles," but with the flowering oleander or graceful rhododendron, and overshadowed by noble oaks and cork trees, embowered amidst twining tendrils of the wild vine and clematis.

Oft through scenes such as these would I stroll, rod in hand, watching the fresh-water turtle, as, disturbed by my approach, they glided in numbers off the shelving bank into the clear stream., With thoughts far wandering from my professed vocation—and not unfrequently putting up my tackle-would I stray into the gorge of some romantic mountain baranco (ravine,) or find myself seated under the vine-covered porch of some cottager's hut-proffering the ever-welcome cigar, and getting in exchange a few freshlygathered "brevas" or "higo-chumbos,"* whilst listening to sundry long-spun yarns of the amo (master) of the casa, who in the provincial though expressive "Lengua Cortao" of Andalusia-would relate interminable tales of the "Guerra de Independencia" and of "Los Ladrones de Franceses," which were only brought to a close by some wonderful legend of "Los Moros;" these being the two universal subjects of the peasant's eloquence in this part of Spain.

Often, after a prolonged absence of several hours, would I find John, carried away by his enthusiasm, wading up to the waist in the stream, as utterly disregarding in this the rules of "Piscator"t as he had before audaciously broken through his directions for the 'July fly ;" and although he generally managed to get a well-filled

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The "breva" is the early purple fig; the " higo chumbo" the fruit of the prickly pear, which is said to be very wholesome as long as it is washed down with the pure element, after eating it; wine-on this occasion-being found very deleterious.

† At No. 14 of " Additional Rules and Cautions," in either Cotton or Izaak Walton, we find, "Never be tempted in the pursuit of your recreation to wade, at least, not as I have seen some do, to the waist. This indiscreet practice has been known to bring on fevers that have terminated in abscesses, and endangered the loss of a limb."

Again, we find in this quaint old book the following amusing rule :-15. “ Never, to preserve the character of an expert angler, be guilty of that mean practice of buying fish of such of your fellow sportsmen as have had better success than yourself, thereby giving occasion for that bitter sarcasm, the more bitter for being true, they were caught with a silver hook.'"

basket either of rangers, or a sort of sea-trout,* still the Spaniards could not at all comprehend why a Caballero, whose livelihood certainly could not depend on his angling, should take such extraordinary pains, and endure such apparent hardships, to secure a few paltry little fishes scarcely worth their "oil and garlic."

On one occasion, as I returned from one of my usual rambling excursions, I saw John, dripping with wet, standing on the bank, adjusting a fly or casting a line, and apparently engaged in deep confabulation with a little swarthy-looking Spaniard, who, with the primitive invention of a rope fastened to a bit of stick (affording a strong contrast to John's elaborate apparatus), was in rapid succession drawing up from the water a number of animals of some sort, and which were immediately stowed away into his capacious wallet. Anxious to find out what could be the subject of conversation between two beings who could not understand each otherfor John was perfectly innocent of Castillan-I noiselessly approached as my friend of the wallet was dexterously detaching the barbed point of his fish-baited hook from the throat of one of those hideous-looking animals called the "toad-fish," but here known ⚫ under the denomination of "demonios," or devils. As the ugly brute was writhing on the grass preparatory to being "bagged," I heard his captor, whilst complacently pointing to him, and, looking up into John's countenance, make the following remark :-" Y pues, hombre ! porque se va a mojar usted, y tomar tanto trabajo cuando por una pezzetta jo le vendré todo ese pescao ?" "And why, man! wherefore should you go and wet yourself and take so much trouble when for a few pence you might have all my fish?" The "Pescator dell' onda" was further descanting on the advantage of both his bait and tackle, which required no trouble except dipping into the water and drawing out again, the whole of which might be done, added he-as the strongest point in his argument-"estando siempre sentao."-"Never rising from your seat."

John's answers were monosyllabic: they consisted in sundry expletives, which-whether bestowed on himself, his tackle, or his talkative companion-it was difficult to say. At last, losing all patience, he exclaimed, "D-n your eyes, me no intiende !"

The angry tone in which this eloquent address was uttered appeared to excite the wrath of the Pescador: a "car-o" was bursting from his lips, when I interposed-gave him the "pezzetta" for all his "demonios"-and, pointing to the sun, just then setting in floods of fire behind the Tarifan hills, said-what we now repeat to the patient and enduring reader-"Amigo, quede usted con Dios."

* John's operations were generally near the mouth of the Guadranque, where it was under the full influence of the tide, and the water consequently either brackish or quite salt.

CHAPTER VIII.

A RUN FROM GIBRALTAR TO THE OPPOSITE COAST OF AFRICA.

"Oft have I heard, on Afric's burning shore,

A hungry lion give an awful roar."

BOMBASTES.

WITH the very name of Africa-as has on a previous occasion been remarked-are connected associations of grandeur, desolation, and sterility; whilst the concomitant ideas annexed to the term are boundless deserts of drifting sand, only occasionally enlivened by a few straggling palm-trees, under whose scanty shade repose the patient and enduring camel-the bronzed and swarthy Bedouin-or maybe the still more savage and ruthless tenants of the wilderness, Impressed with these strongly preconceived ideas, what was our astonishment and agreeable surprise when leaving the arid and sunburnt rock of Gibraltar during the genial month of May-a fine north-westerly breeze wafting us across the classic Straits of Calpe, deposited us in a few hours on a land of verdure and vegetation, of milk and honey-where the plants of the tropics vied in growth and luxuriance with those of more temperate climes, and in which Nature appeared to revel in the richest profusion. Such was the scene presented to our gaze, as-quitting our felucca-we entered a native boat, and, after rowing up the stream of the Martine river, were safely landed near the fortress of the same name, and about five miles from the Moresco city of Tetuan.

Glad to escape from the military trammels and monotony of a garrison life, we had made up our minds to have our fill of fun and frolic, under whatever shapes they should present themselves during the fortnight of emancipation we were then about to enjoy; and though our adventures in these parts may perhaps not be considered as essentially of a sporting character, still, they may perchance give the reader some little insight into a portion of the globe hitherto but little known, and less frequented by our erratic countrymen.

Every reader may perhaps not be aware that our good rock of Gibraltar-the "brightest gem in the British crown," as it is quaintly called by some old writer-depends entirely for its supplies on the opposite coast of Barbary, with which a great traffic is carried on principally in fruit, poultry, and bullocks-large numbers of the latter being constantly sent across for the consumption of the garrison. The felucca in which we had taken our passage was one of the vessels appropriated to this trade, in which was engaged to a considerable extent an old Moorish merchant named Hadge Mahomet-which honourable prefix of Hadge he was entitled to, from having performed no fewer than three pilgrimages to the holy cities in Arabia.