206 THE ISLAND

OF CORFU.

 

down to the sea, and it is here that the
town has been built.

Everywhere the place is strongly guarded
Pas-

sages have been cut out of the solid rock in

by guns and cannon and soldiers.

many places that they might have all
points protected, and in times of war it is
almost proof against any attack.

The town, as well as the rest of the rock,
is well guarded by soldiers and their rules
are so strict that a traveler must obtain a
pass from some official even if he remain
there only aday. Should he wish to stay
longer, he must get some householder to
vouch for his good behaviour.

Gibralter is famous for its caverns in the
rocks and is sometimes called the Hill of
Caves. Some of them are very beautiful,
especially the Genista Cave and St. Mich-
ael’s, which many travelers think excel our
own Mammoth Cave in Kentucky.

When you first come in sight of Gibral-
ter from aboard a ship, it looks very barren

and desolate, but as the boat slowly makes

 

 

its way to the landing place, you find that
it is a very pretty scene after all.

Around you are the different boats, the
water glistening in the bright sunshine and
the long pier where the boats unload their
cargoes, while off to your left, at the foot
of the rock, like a picture framed in its
dark setting, lies the town, all aglow with
its great quantities of beautiful wild flow-
ers which blossom at this season of the
year. Here, too, are the little Barbary Apes
which every school boy has heard about,
but which not every one living in Gibral-
ter has seen, since there are only a few,
perhaps twenty altogether. They do quite
a little damage to the fruit trees, but are
in as little danger of being harmed as the
storks over in Holland.

Although Gibralter is south of Spain, it
is owned by Great Britain and is a valu-
able protection to her ships passing from
the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterran-
ean sea. Everywhere to be seen English

soldiers.

THE ISLAND OF CORFU.

’ ELL,” said papa, one hot day in |
August as the family were seated

out in the woods waiting for his
usual after-lunch story, “I can think of

nothing that will so interest you on a day

 

 

like this as a little trip to the Adriatic sea,
and the Island of Corfu.

Let us imagine it is a clear day, and that
we are all seated on the upper deck of an

Austrian Lloyd steamer, bound for Patras,