In The Beginning Of The Eighth Century, Ceuta, Which Was Inhabited By
The Goths, Passed Into The Hands Of The Arabs, Who Made It A Point Of
Departure For The Expeditions Into Spain.
It was conquered by the
powerful Arab family of the Ben-Hamed, one of whom, called Mohammed
Edris, invaded Spain, and, after several conquests, was proclaimed King
of Cordova, in A.D. 1,000,
On 21st of August, 1415, the Portuguese conquered it, and it was the
first place which they occupied in Africa. In 1578, at the death of Don
Sebastian, Ceuta passed with Portugal and the rest of the colonies into
the power of Spain; and when, in 1640, the Portuguese recovered their
independence, the Spaniards were left masters of Ceuta, which continues
still in their hands, but is of no utility to them except as a
_praesidio_, which makes the fourth penal settlement possessed by them
on this coast.
Ceuta contains a garrison of two or three thousand men. The free
population amounts to some five or six thousand. It has a small and
insecure port. Here is the famed Gibel Zaterit, "Monkey's promontory,"
or "Ape's Hill," which has occasioned the ingenious fable, that,
inasmuch as there are no monkeys in any part of Europe except Gibraltar,
directly opposite to this rock, where also monkeys are found, there must
necessarily be a subterranean passage beneath the sea, by which they
pass and re-pass to opposite sides of the Straits, and maintain a
friendly and uninterrupted intercourse between the brethren of Africa
and Europe.
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