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Gibraltar looks like a nose on the map, but if you were in a boat out on the Mediterranean Sea, Gibraltar would looklike a long, high rock. Between it and Africa there is a narrow strip of water called the Strait of Gibraltar. It is only about thirteen miles across. It is about half as wide as the Strait of Dover, but powerful currentsare pulling and pushing in and out from the Atlantic Ocean, and only recently has any one been able to swim across it. Inside of the Rock of Gibraltar, England has cut hallways and rooms and windows with long-distance gunsin them, and placed her soldiers there to watch out over the water, and in time of war to fire on any one England does not want to pass through the water-gate.

Long years ago most all of the World that people knew was chiefly around the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. Sailorsat that time thought it dangerous to go outside this gate, the Strait of Gibraltar, into the great ocean, and—so the story goes—they set up Pillars on each side of the Strait like gate-posts. They called them the Pillarsof Hercules, and they put up a sign to warn sailors that it was dangerous to go beyond these Pillars. The sign said “Non Plus Ultra,” which meant “Nothing More Beyond.” It was supposed that not far outside the Pillarsof Her-cules the ocean came to an edge where you would tumble off down, down, down to bottomless nothing. Columbus did not believe any such foolishness; he was not afraid. He sailed from Spain, starting from a place outsidethe Pillars of Hercules called Palos. He sailed on and on and on until, as you know, he came to America.

Just before Columbus sailed from Spain there were people living there called Moors, who had come across from Africaand made their home in Spain. The Moors were different from other people in Europe. They did not believe in Christ; they were not Christians. They believed in a man named Mohammed and a god whom they called Allah. The Moorsbuilt beautiful palaces, but they were different from Christian palaces. The Moorish princes lived in one of these palaces on a hill in the city of Granada, which is not far from Gibraltar. The palace in Granada was calledthe Alhambra.

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直布罗陀在地图上看起来像个鼻子，但是当你坐船在地中海行驶的时候，直布罗陀看起来就像一块又长又高的岩石。在它和非洲之间有一条狭窄的水域，叫做直布罗陀海峡。它大约只有13英里宽，宽度大约是多佛海峡的一半，但来自大西洋的强劲海流涌进涌出，波涛汹涌，直到最近才有人能游泳横渡海峡。在直布罗陀山里，英国人开凿了过道、房间和窗户，窗口放置了远程步枪，还安插士兵在那里监视海面，在战争时期任何人未经英国人同意而经过水闸，英国士兵就要开枪射击。

很多年以前，地中海地区的人认为地中海差不多就是整个世界。那时候的水手认为走出直布罗陀海峡这道大门进入大洋会很危险，而且——传闻如此——他们在海峡两岸竖起了柱子，就像门柱一样。他们把那叫做“赫拉克勒斯之墩”，他们还挂上告示牌警告水手如果越出石柱就很危险。告示牌上写到“NonPlusUltra”，意思就是“禁止再往外行”。人们认为在赫拉克勒斯之墩之外不远就到了大海的边缘，人到这里会坠落下去，落啊落啊落入无底深渊。哥伦布根本不相信这种愚蠢的想法；他无所畏惧。他从西班牙出发，从赫拉克勒斯之墩外一个叫做帕洛斯的地方起航。他在海上一直航行，没有退缩，最后，如你所知，他到达了美洲。

就在哥伦布从西班牙出发前，摩尔人居住在西班牙，他们从对岸的非洲来到西班牙安家落户。摩尔人和欧洲的其他人不同。他们不信仰基督，不是基督徒。他们信奉一个叫做穆罕默德的人和一个叫做安拉的神。摩尔人建造了美丽的宫殿，但是和基督徒的宫殿不一样。摩尔王子就住在格拉纳达城山上其中一个宫殿里，离直布罗陀不远。格拉纳达的宫殿叫做爱尔汗布拉宫。