Books with author Annie Allnutt Brassey

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1880 Excerpt: ...us so many thousand leagues in safety and comfort, lay quietly beneath the waters, on the surface of which she had thus far ridden so securely. Sunday, October 13/A.--At 2.30 a.m. we commenced steaming, and at 6 a.m. we were off Almeria, a large town situated in a plain of great luxuriance, on the shores of a noble bay of the same name. The big white houses with snowy fronts, facing the sea, looked quite like palaces, while the old brown Moorish castle and walls, surrounded as they are by orange groves and green foliage of all sorts, enhanced the picturesque appearance of the place. At 8 a.m. there was a nice breeze, and at about 10 a.m. the yacht was off Cape Agate (Cape de Gat), so called from the mountain being composed almost entirely of spars and quartz, in which many amethysts are met with. At a distance of about five miles from the cape we were hailed by a small sailing boat, manned by six men, who, to our surprise, offered us grapes, melons, pomegranates, potatoes, and all sorts of fruit and vegetables, which wc were as glad to buy as they were to sell. Like the Fucgians in the Straits of Magellan,. galleta' (biscuit) and 'tabaca' was their cry, and I believe some of our crew made far better bargains with them in exchange for those commodities than we did in exchange for coin, though of the Spanish realm. I thought it was highly enterprising of them to set up this sort of village shop on the sea. We had morning service at 11.30 a.m. and evening service at 3.30 p.m. In the afternoon the sea was quite rough, with a strong contrary wind, and at sunset we fancied we could still discern the Rock of Gibraltar. The light on Cape Falcon, on the coast of Africa, became visible later on. We tacked again towards Cartagena, and then back again, but seemed to ma...

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1880 edition. Excerpt: ... Oran, in Algeria, where we had never yet been. Soon after the change was made, the wind dropped to a calm, fires were lighted, at 3.30 p.m. steam was up, two hours later the pilot came on board, and before 6 p.m. we were lying safely at anchor in the well-sheltered harbour of Oran. The town stands prettily on a sloping hill, and the three branches of the river running through it cause the gardens and valleys to wear a most luxuriant aspect. It has been strongly fortified by Moors, by Spaniards, and by the French, two forts, built on high peaks, jealously guarding the entrance to the harbour. It fell dark soon after we arrived; but the civil capitainc du port made no difficulty about giving us pratique. He had descried the yacht from the race-course on the hills, and had hurried back on purpose to look after us. We therefore landed and found our way up a road running through gardens, where the perfume of the flowers was almost overpoweringly sweet, to the Hotel de la Paix. Its windows look out over a sort of square with palm-trees in the centre, under which Moors, Arabs, negroes, and Zouaves were seated in the most picturesque groups. An Arab fete was going on, with its monotonous music, weird processions, and twirling lights, as the whiterobed dancers, carrying a large circle of wood stuck with candles, slowly revolved in rhythmic measure to the sounds of dull drums and squeaky pipes, a spectacle which afforded intense delight to our children. The large coffee-room was crowded, this being the second day of the races. I am sorry we have just missed them, as I believe they were very good, the programme consisting of flat races and a few trotting matches, and finishing up with a grand Arab 'fantasia.' Arab chiefs from far and near had...