DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11789#0038
28
apes' hill.
The badness of the air has prevented St. Michael's
care from being explored more than 500 feet below
the entrance. It has, however, been asserted that,
from the lowest part that has been explored, the
waves of the sea have occasionally been distinctly
heard dashing into the caves below. There are
frequently seen, upon the most inaccessible cliffs of
Gibraltar, apes or monkeys of a dark fawn color,
and without tails. As this species is found in no
other part of Europe, although they are numerous
on the opposite hills in Africa,* a notion has pre-
vailed among the more ignorant and marvel-loving
portion of the people, that St. Michael's cave ex-
tends under the sea into Africa, and that, through
this natural tunnel, the apes have passed from one
continent to the other.
The Kock of Gibraltar consists of a species of
compact gray limestone or marble, of a very fine
texture. In the caves, an abundance of calcareous
spar is found. This is wrought into ornamental
* Apes' Hill (the Abyla of the ancients), in Africa, di-
rectly opposite to Gibraltar, is named from this circum-
stance. This mountain may "be 2000 or 3000 feet in
height. From some points of view, it has the appearance
of a broad-based, irregular pyramid, truncated and concave
at the top. It is said to be composed principally or wholly
of a species of marble, similar to the Rock of Gibraltar.
apes' hill.
The badness of the air has prevented St. Michael's
care from being explored more than 500 feet below
the entrance. It has, however, been asserted that,
from the lowest part that has been explored, the
waves of the sea have occasionally been distinctly
heard dashing into the caves below. There are
frequently seen, upon the most inaccessible cliffs of
Gibraltar, apes or monkeys of a dark fawn color,
and without tails. As this species is found in no
other part of Europe, although they are numerous
on the opposite hills in Africa,* a notion has pre-
vailed among the more ignorant and marvel-loving
portion of the people, that St. Michael's cave ex-
tends under the sea into Africa, and that, through
this natural tunnel, the apes have passed from one
continent to the other.
The Kock of Gibraltar consists of a species of
compact gray limestone or marble, of a very fine
texture. In the caves, an abundance of calcareous
spar is found. This is wrought into ornamental
* Apes' Hill (the Abyla of the ancients), in Africa, di-
rectly opposite to Gibraltar, is named from this circum-
stance. This mountain may "be 2000 or 3000 feet in
height. From some points of view, it has the appearance
of a broad-based, irregular pyramid, truncated and concave
at the top. It is said to be composed principally or wholly
of a species of marble, similar to the Rock of Gibraltar.