hite in the sunshine; they are part
of the great continent of Africa, and so, though it is only in the
distance, we have set eyes on our first new continent. Towering up
before us, with mighty bulk, is an immense rock, rising bald and rather
awful into the pure sky. Near the summit its sides are completely bare,
seamed by great gashes, and broken by masses of rock that look as if
they might crash down at any moment. Apes live up there, wild
mischievous creatures, who descend to steal from the orchards below, but
are so shy that they are hardly ever seen of men. They are of a kind
called Barbary apes, only found elsewhere in Africa; and it is thought
that perhaps, many ages ago, Europe was joined to Africa at this point,
and that when a great convulsion occurred which broke the two asunder
and let the water flow through the Straits of Gibraltar some of the apes
may have been left on this side, where their descendants still are,
sundered for ever from their kinsfolk by the strip of sea.

About the base of the rock is a little town running up the hill and
brightened by many trees--this is Gibraltar itself, one of the most
famous places in the world. For this alone it is well worth while to
come round by sea.

[Illustration: A BARBARY APE.]

Anyone can see at a glance why it is so important. That little strait,
about a dozen miles across, is the only natural entrance by water into
the Mediterranean Sea, which lies all along the south of Europe. At the
other end men have had to cut a way out by means of a canal. If ever
European nations were at war, the nation which held Gibraltar would be
able to prevent the ships of other countries from getting into or coming
out of the Mediterranean. It could smash them with big guns if they
tried, or blow them up. So that even if the country on each side were
flat this would still be an important place; but nature has made here a
precipitous rock, which is a natural fortress, and by great good luck
this belongs, not to the country of Spain, of which it is the southern
part, but to Great Britain. To find out how this is so you must go to
history. Gibraltar has been held by Britain for many years now, and
though the King of Spain is very friendly with Britain, and has married
an English princess, I think he must sometimes feel a little sore over
Gibraltar.

Lying in a basin on one side of us are some of our own powerful and ugly
ironclads, like bulldogs guarding the fort, and on the ot