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took possession of me at the sight. Few prospects in the world can be more imposing. The stern and craggy cliffs of the Spanish coast; the towering woodcrowned peaks of the African mountains; the noble strait that separates these two famous quarters of the globe; and the grand and interesting historical recollections connected with the spotall combine to fill the mind of the spectator with the most thrilling emotions. Long did I gaze on the noble scene without the power to utter a word, as the sun broke from the mass of rich blue clouds that hung round the head of Mount Atlas, and poured his golden light on the shaggy masses of forest in Africa and the rugged and frowning cliffs of Spain. To see such a prospect once is an epoch in a man's life; the vivid and overpowering feelings of the moment are never to be experienced a second time.

As we sailed up the strait, I had leisure to view the shore on both sides by the help of a telescope. The Spanish coast is rocky, and generally barren, but in many spots I was able to discern little patches of green cultivation, scattered about in the valleys between the dark rock. The African shore is almost entirely covered with woods up to the mountain-tops. Here and there I could see a wreath of white smoke slowly curling upward from the thick woods. These were made by the Moors, who were stripping the cork trees of their bark. Farther up the strait, we came in sight of the famous fortress of Gibraltar. It is an enormous rock, connected with the Spanish shore by a low, flat beach. The rock is cut and tunnelled into immensely long caverns and galleries, with embrasures for cannon, and is fortified in every part so strongly as to be considered impregnable. It was taken from the Spaniards by the English, more than a century ago, but at that time it was

very poorly fortified. The English, finding it so well situated for guarding the entrance of the strait, expended vast sums of money in strengthening it, and would never give it up to the Spaniards. It has sustained many hard sieges since that period, but has hitherto resisted every attack. There is always a strong garrison of troops kept here, and the harbor is a regular station for ships of war. A considerable town has grown up near the rock, and a good deal of trade is carried on by the merchants of Gibraltar. Vessels from all the Mediterranean ports bring their goods to this place, and American vessels carry the productions of our continent to exchange for them; so that an establishment designed at first only for a military fortress, has become a flourishing commercial mart.

Boston vessels commonly carry to Gibraltar cargoes of flour, tobacco, coffee, tar, pipe-staves, &c., and take the Spanish wines and fruits in return. Sometimes, after disposing of their cargoes at Gibraltar, they take in ballast and sail for the Cape Verd Islands, where they load with salt and return home.

CHAPTER III.

Voyage along the coast of Spain.-Prospect of Sicily-Account of an Island thrown up from the bottom of the sea by a Volcano.-Arrival at Malta.-Quarantine Regulations.

THOUGH We had been quite alone on the Atlantic, yet as soon as we entered the Mediterranean we found ourselves in company with a large fleet of vessels. We had a fair wind up the strait, and kept along with our companions for two or three days; but as the strait grew wider, and at length expanded into the broad Mediterranean sea, these vessels dispersed towards their several ports of

spot where a volcanic island suddenly rose up from the bottom of the sea a few years ago; a surprising phenomenon, of which the reader may like to hear a short account.

destination. We sailed along the Spanish coast for nearly a week, and found the landscape everywhere picturesque and striking. The shore is high and abrupt at first; farther onward it rises into lofty mountains. Here the scenery This part of the Mediterranean is became truly grand and sublime. It known to abound in subterranean fires. was mid-winter, and the mountains of Etna is always burning; the Lipari Granada were covered with snow. A islands contain volcanoes, and Vesuvius, lofty ridge, called the Sierra Nevada, with its terrible eruptions, has long been runs parallel to the shore, and rises to familiar to every reader. This whole the height of 11,000 feet. At this time region, both land and sea, probably rests it presented a most noble sight-an im- on an immense bed of fire. Wherever mense wall of snow, glistening in the this fire can get vent, it breaks out; the bright sunshine and towering up to the Lipari islands all present the appearclouds. ance of having been formed in this manner. On the south coast of Sicily, the inhabitants were surprised one day to behold tremendous flames of fire breaking out of the sea in a spot where the water was known to be very deep. This alarming eruption continued for several days, with dreadful explosions, like the discharges of artillery, and showers of ashes and thick columns of smoke that obscured the light of the sun. When the eruption had partially subsided, a considerably large island was found to have emerged from the bottom of the sea. It continued smoking for many days, and at length several persons had the courage to venture off in small vessels, and land upon it. found it to consist of black scoriæ, cinders and ashes, the substances which are commonly ejected from volcanoes. Pools of hot water stood here and there in the cavities of the surface; great heaps of dead fishes were scattered about, and the smoke of sulphur was steaming up from the hollows and crevices that abounded in the island. Such was the singular appearance of a spot that rose up from the sea, as it were out of the bowels of the earth. It would have been hazardous for a man to take up his permanent abode on this newlyformed territory, and we do not find that

Winds are commonly regulated by the direction of the shores, especially where the coasts are mountainous. At Cape de Gatt, where the coast makes a sudden bend to the north, a change of wind is always expected by vessels sailing up the Mediterranean; and so it happened with us. The fair breeze from the west, which had hitherto driven us on our course, now shifted to a strong easterly breeze, directly in our teeth. We had also a short chopping sea, peculiar to the Mediterranean, which brings on sea-sickness to one coming from the Atlantic, although the waves of the Mediterranean never rise so high as the Atlantic billows. We beat against the wind some days, till at length it sprung up astern again, when we ran before it till we came in sight of the island of Sicily.

We found the mountains of Sicily, like those of Spain, covered with snow; and considering the bleak wintry prospect which the country offered at the distance from which we viewed it, we never should have guessed that the gardens were full of green trees, bending under the weight of ripe oranges. This however was the fact, as we afterwards discovered. In steering from this quarter towards Malta, we sailed over the

They

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any one had the inclination to make any long stay on the spot. After standing a few months, the new island sunk as suddenly as it rose, and the sea over it appears to be as deep as ever.

The little island of Gozo now came in sight ahead, warning us that we were approaching our port. At day-break we saw the island of Malta, and ran for the western extremity, after which we stood along the northern coast for the harbor of Valette. The island appeared of a moderate height, but I could hardly discern a tree or any marks of cultivation. Watch-towers at regular intervals along the shore, and some rude structures in the interior, were all that appeared to diversify the landscape. As we approached the harbor, we discovered a fleet of small boats putting off to meet us, and we were soon surrounded by them. The men were a wild-looking

set, tawny and stout, wearing brown woollen caps that hung down over their shoulders. They rowed standing, instead of sitting, as our boatmen do. The boats were very neatly built, of olivewood, with high and ornamented prows. They were painted of a bright vermilion in the bows, and it is remarkable that Homer describes the ancient Grecian ships as painted in the same manner. A loud clamor and hubbub of voices now rose around us. All the boatmen had some service to offer. offered a pilot, another offered to tow us into the harbor, which is highly necessary here, on account of the narrowness of the entrance. Others were ready to supply us with fresh provisions, fruit, &c., and others wanted our clothes to wash. Every vessel that arrives is beset in the same manner, and the number of persons who depend for a living upon

One

what they get for these services must be quite large.

As we approached the entrance of the harbor, we came suddenly in sight of the city of Valette, with its castle and fortifications. They stand close to the sea, and burst upon the spectator before he is aware. We were much struck with their noble and commanding appearance and the bells of the city chiming merrily at the time, the agreeable sensations they inspired were still further heightened. It was a great mortification to us, however, to find that we were to be subjected to a quarantine of more than a week. For this purpose our vessel was taken into that part of the harbor adjoining the lazaretto, where we were brought to anchor, and treated with a prospect of the shore close at hand without the privilege of setting foot upon it for a week to come.

The quarantine regulations are very troublesome in almost all parts of the Mediterranean. The people in this quarter are always afraid of contagious diseases, particularly the plague, which in former days committed terrible ravages. The quarantine on vessels from the Levant, or the eastern part of the Mediterranean, sometimes lasts for forty days. This restriction, when applied to ships from the United States, is very useless and absurd; yet it is rigidly enforced, for these people have heard that a contagious disease, called the yellow fever, sometimes prevails in America, and as they have little knowledge of geography, they make hardly any distinction between one portion of the western continent and another. The quarantine therefore is laid upon all vessels from America.

We found ourselves in company with fifteen or twenty other vessels performing quarantine, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Austrian and Greek. There was an Austrian brig, loaded with

beans from Alexandria in Egypt. She had forty days quarantine, and as the weather was rainy and the vessel's deck leaked, the captain was afraid his cargo would sprout and shoot up into a forest of bean-stalks before he could get it on shore.

It was now the first of February, a season when, by our recollection, the country at home must be covered with snow; yet here we found the fields green, the air soft, and the trees in full foliage. The oranges were just ripening, and the Maltese boatman brought them to us on board for four cents a dozen. The Malta oranges are famed for being the finest in the world, and I must admit that they are worthy of their reputation. The oranges we get in Boston are gathered before they are quite ripe, that they may keep the better; but an orange in full ripeness, fresh plucked from the tree, as far surpasses the imported fruit, as a ripe apple does a green one. We had, besides, dried figs strung upon reeds, somewhat in the manner in which we prepare dried apples. Here I saw for the first time the pomegranate, a fruit larger than an orange, full of little sweet kernels. So we contented ourselves with eating fresh fruit and wishing the quarantine at an end.

(To be continued.)

The New Custom House, Boston.

BETWEEN Long and Central wharves, in Boston, a large edifice is now in progress, called the New Custom-House. A picture of it as it will be when finished, engraved by Mr. Devereux, whose office you will find at No. 47 Court street, is given on the opposite page. The building is of granite, and already it may be seen that it is to be one of the finest structures in the city. The lofty

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