The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-07-26
Gibraltar.

The scenes in the lovely bay and in the
narrow zigzag streets of the little town
are busting and full of life. Tho bay is
dotted with ships and boats OF many
kinds, anchored in the shadow OF the
rock. In the distance, among the hills
and groves, peeps out the ancient little
town of San Roque--a curious place, and
we'll worthy visit. Everywhere about,
as we'll as on the rock, you are reminded
of the fact that Gibraltar is, first OF all,
fortress. Soldiers and guards, deploy-
ing, lounging, or on post, present them
selves at every turn; high up on the cliffs
the diminished figures of sentinels are
seen pacing to and fro; in the pleasure
gardens the most noticeable persons are
the officers, strOlling and taking their
ease; the tattoo of drums, the roar OF
cannon at stated hours, the opening and
closing of the great gates that separate
the fortress from the town, all impress
one with the military Importance OF the
place. Still more marked appears the
military character of the rock, as you
glance up toward the beetling cliffs and
see, yawning from innumerable port
holes, and above long ranges OF battle
ments and from many an embrasure and
turret, the cannon which guard the en-
trance to the Mediterranean; and as, Gu
rious to behold the marvels of the fortress
in their details, you cross the draw bridge,
90 under the low arched gateways, pass
the parade and Alameda, ascend the irreg-
ular streets which creep in steps up the
sides of the crags, leave behind the quaint
old Moorish castle, and at last find your
self literally entering the rock through an
iron gateway, the first glance reveals
the immense labOrs which have been un-
dertaken to perfect by art the defenses
with which nature has endowed Gibraltar.
One sees before him a series of galleries,
tunnels, aud excavations, conducting APP
parently into blank OF Cimmerian dark
ness. Here, far above the beach, are dug
out long tunnels at the very edge OF the
headlong cliff; and as you pass along
them, guided by the light of the torches,
you observe port at intervals of tif-
teen or twenty feet, with brass ordnance
peepipg out menacingly from every one.
Ascending constantly, you find that there
is tier after tier of these tunnels. There,
if necessity should arise, the gunners
might stand and pour their deadly fire
upon fleet or cohort, perfectly shielded by
the massive and solid rock, which no mis-
sile, however destructive, could more than
feebly indent. The Windsor Galleries,
which are excavations wholly within the
rock, form continuous subterranean
passage of two thousand feet in length,
twelve feet high, and twelve wide, and
this passage ascends by the same zigzag
course which is seen i'll the great roads
that wind over the Alps, till it gives an
outlet near the summit.
The most memorable, in some respects,
of all the fourteen sieges to which Glib
raltar has been subjected, was the last,
called the ''great SIEGE" one of the
mighty struggles of history, which began
in the year 1910. The famous General
Elliott was commander of the fortress.
Spain, in alliance with France and Moroc-
CO, endeavored to surprise Gibraltar; but
Swedish ship gave Elliott the alarm.
The garrison comprised but five compan-
les of artillery, aud the whole force was less
than five thousand five hundred men. The
enemy's force was fourteen thousand. The
siege began by the blockading OF the
port, and camp was formed at San
Rogue with the design of starving out
the garrison. The garrison was often re-
duced to sore straits for food; "a goose
was worth guinea" and Elliott tried
upon himself the experiment of living
upon four ounces of rice day for week.
The long agony, full of terrific combats
and frightful privations, ended by the
final abandonment of the siege early in
1888. If in that year the English had to
make up their minds that they must let
go their American colonies, they had at
least the consolation that Gibraltar was
still theirs.-Harper' Magazine.