Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1877-06-20
NO. 145.
QUAINT OLD GIBRALTAR.

TIE Town AND FORTRESS THE WONDER
OF MODERN MILITARY SCIENcE-SUBrE
RANEAN GALLERIES.
The scenes in the lovely bay and in the
narrow zigzag streets OF the little town
are bustling and full of life. The bay is
dotted with ships and boats of mapv
kinds, anchored in the shadow of the
rock. On the quays of the town you rec
ognize the reason of the saying that Glib.
raltar is an epitome of the three CONT
nents. Here, besides English and Scot
tish soldiers, who are met on every hand
in the vicinity of the rock, are to be seen
swarthy and handsome Moors from Bar
barry, with their snow-white turbans. flow
ing robes. bare leather-colored legs. and
loose slippers down at the heel; Jews
from over the strait, in gaudy embroid-
cred costumes, with broad varicolored
sashes wound about their waists, and
baggy white trowsers; Spanish SNUG
glers, in tight fitting coats and breeches,
fastened down the sides with silver but
tons; pretty dark-eyed women of Genoa
arrayed in scarlet cioaks and hoods, the
latter trimmed with broad black velvet;
Spanish beauties, with long lashes and
languishing eyes, wearing their sweeping
black lace wells and graceful mantillas;
Highland soldiers in plaid and tartan
and race of accumulated English,
bronzed and semi-Spanish in feature
the natives of Gibraltar, upon whom
the Spanish have bestowed the rather un-
complimentary epithet of "Rock Scor-
pions. Out into the sea stretch the va
rlous ''moles," the most conspicuous be-
ing the old and new moles, while at the
northern end OF the town rise the towers,
battlements and crumbling walls of the
old Moorish castle-an imposing relic of
the days OF Moslem ascendency. In the
distance, among the hills and groves,
peeps out the ancient little town of San
Roque--a curious place, and well worthy
visit. Everywhere about as well as on
the rock you are reminded of the fact that
Gibraltar is. first of all fortress. SOL
ders and guards, deploying, lounging, or
on post, present themselves at every turn;
high up on the cliffs the diminished figures
OF sentlnels are seen pacing to and fro; in
the pleasure-gardens the most noticeable
persons are the officers. strolling and tax
ing their ease; the tattoo of drums, the
roar OF cannon at stated hours, the opening
and closing OF the great gates. that separ-
ate the fortress from the town, all impress
one with the military importace of the
place. Still more marked appears the
military character of the rock, as YOU
glance up toward the beetling cliffs, and
see. yawnng from innumerable portfolios,
and above long ranges of battlements, and
from many an embrasure and turret, the
cannon which guard the entrance TO the
Mediterranean; and as, curious to behold
the marvels OF the fortress in their details,
you cross the draw-bridge, go under the
low arched gateways, pass the parade and
Alameda, ascend the irregular streets
which creep in steps up the sides of the
crags, leave behind the quaint old Moorish
castle, and at last find yourself literally
entering the rock through an iron gate
way. The first glance reveals the i'm
mense labors which have been taken to
perfect by art the defences with which ma
ture has endowed Gibraltar. One sees
before him series OF galleries, tunnels
and excavations, conducting apparently
into blank Of Cimmerian darkness. Here
tar above the beach, are dug out long tun-
nels at the very edge OF the headlong cliff
and as you pass along them, guided by
The light OF torches, you observe port
holes at intervals of Fifteen or twenty
feet, with brass ordnance peeping 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 missile, however destruc-
tive, could more than feebly indent. The
Windsor Galleries, which are excavations
wholly within the rock. form continuous
subterranean passage OF two thousand
feet high and twelve wide. and this pas
sage ascends by the same zigzag course
which is seen in the great roads that wind
over the Alps, till it gives an outlet near
the summit Harper $ Magazine.