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Journal of an African Cruiser by Horatio Bridge
page 18 of 210 (08%)

_July_ 1.--Ashore at Santa Cruz. The population of the city is reckoned
at six or eight thousand. The streets are clean, and the houses built in
the Spanish fashion. Camels are frequent in the streets.

The landing at the Mole is generally bad, as Nelson found to his cost. It
is easy to perceive that, even in ordinary times, the landing of a large
party, though unopposed, must be a work of considerable difficulty. How
much more arduous, then, was the enterprise of the great Naval Hero, who
made his attack in darkness, and in the face of a well-manned battery,
which swept away all who gained foot-hold on the shore! The latter
obstacle might have been overcome by English valor, under Nelson's
guidance; but night, and the heavy surf, were the enemies that gave him
his first and only defeat. The little fort, under whose guns he was
carried by his step-son, after the loss of his arm, derived its chief
interest, in my eyes, from that circumstance. The glory of the great
Admiral sheds a lustre even upon the spot where success deserted him. In
the Cathedral of Santa Cruz are to be seen two English flags, which were
taken on that occasion, and are still pointed out with pride by the
inhabitants. I saw them five years ago, when they hung from the walls,
tattered and covered with dust; they are now enclosed in glass cases, to
which the stranger's attention is eagerly directed by the boys who swarm
around him. The defeat of Nelson took place on the anniversary of the
patron-saint of Santa Cruz; a coincidence which has added not a little to
the saint's reputation. It was by no means his first warlike exploit; for
he is said to have come to the assistance of the inhabitants, and routed
the Moors, when pressing the city hard, in the olden time.

We wandered about the city until evening, and then walked in the Plaza.
Here the ladies and gentlemen of the city promenade for an hour or two,
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