Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1884-07-11
GIBRALTAR.
/ The Rock Upon Which Great Britain
Has Built Her Stronghold
London standard.

What hldsst tsou III thy treasured
caves and cells, Thou ever sounding
and mysterious mains" 4 partial
answer to Mrs. Heman's inscruJahle
question has just been supplied by
bay whose waters cover MANY 4 long
forgotten wreck, and whose floor
should be strewn with as many me-
mentoes of sea battles as any spot III
the worls over which the waves ebb
and flow. For scores of centuries the
straits and bay of Gibraltar. or Gebel
Tark-the shill of Tank a Saracenic
general-have witnessed their full
share of fighting among various races
of combative and maritime battles in
which it is probable that the PRo'ni-
clans must have often engaged during
the three centuries which saw the
lands and coasts OF the Mediterranean
thickly covered with their forts, their
factories. From about thirteen hun
bred down to thousand years before
the Christian era the ships of these
indefatigaute mariners plowed the
waters of every known sea,
and carried the commerce. of
the world to every port which their
restless spirit eff adventure had open
ed to naval and commercial enterprise.
/ We know that. having colon!zed the
whole coast of Spain, they left the pill
! lars of Hercules behind them, and
pushed boldly into the Atlantic until
they had discovered the Tin islands,
which they call the Siciles. and made
| their way to the southern shores of
/ Britain itself. They were the univer-
sal traders and carriers of the ocean
in days when these islands We're occu
pieo by barbarous savages, and ii is
even related by Diodorus that, embar-
raised with the multitude of the pre-
| cious metals which they found III the
mines of Tartessus, the PhWnicians
made their very anchors of silver,
not knowing how to store its super
abundant treasure away in the holds
of their puny vessels. Tyre and Sidon
grew, under their enlightened rule, to
be the greatest and richest martS of
commerce in the world, and an ALI
ance with Hiram, the king of Tyre.
was eagerly sought by Solomon, the
wisest and greatest or Israelltlsh
kings. Who can say, indeed, wheth-
err, among the long lost treasures lying
| ttb lllSs DOIlOlIt vi I'd Il Stl-
yer anchor, belonging to the former
mistress of the seas, may not itself be
lncluded2 Its recovery would be not
less precious, III the eyes of our mod
ern antiquarians, than the evidences
of the ancient Troy which DR..
Schlieman believes he has excavated at
HlsSarhk, or than the seven brancbed
candlestick brought from Jerusalem
to Rome by the Emperor Titus, and
alleged by DR.. Dyer to be III proba-
bllity, lying buried at this moment in
the yellow mud at the bottom of the
Tiber Leaving behind us the dim
and misty revelations of ancient his
tory, which speak OF the pillars of
/ Hercules as the western boundary of
| the world, we now come TO times when
| Gibraltar and its lion couchant-like
rock were gazed at with envy by more
recent invaders of Spain. Who can
doubt" says recent writer, that
such leaders as Hamilcar and
Hannibal must have been
awake to the Importance of Gibraltar
as permanent stronghold for a mari
time nation when they made their eX-
petitions from Africa into Europe
The Romans may have cast wlstful
eyes at its strength when they We're
fighting with Carthage for possession
of Spain. All, however, that we
know for certain is that about eleven
centuries since the Saracens invaded
| Spain, under their great general,
Tarik Ibn -Sayid, and seized upon the
rock of Gibraltar, which they fortified
as the base of their operations against
the kingdom of the Visigoths.