Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1890-09-12
HOW TO ENJOY GIBRALTAR.
Crsst with Scorn All Profrsrs from Guides
and Donkey Boys.

The way to enjoy Glib is to leave
the faithful hut too prosaic Murray in
your cabin saws the Pail Mall Gazette.
When you land treat with scorn all
proffers from guide and driver and
donkey boy. Cross the drawbridges as
if to the manner born pass the semi
tropic garden that fills the corner
space to the entrance to the town,
noting as YOU pass on the right the dis
used nook filled with graves where
some of the heroes of Trafalgar sleep,
brought there to die of their wounds.
Next ask the first soldier the way to the
ID. A. G.'s Office. where pass is court
eously given admitting to the famous
galleries. The summit is now tabu to
all not employed on the new works in
progress there, but the lower of the
three tiers of galleries will simply
suffice us. This dates from the last
century, most of it was tunneled out
during the great four years siege from
1889 to 1898.
A leisurelv stroll upward to the
Moorish castle takes us in the right
direction for the entrance. We note
the ascending alleys are named ramps,
for we are in fortress. One is lettered
Right Shoulders Forward" quaint
word of command of the days of
powder and pigtail and the maneuvers
of Dundas. We reach an old world
guard-room, with large fig tree.
leafless now. for the time of figs is not
yet. just within the Moorish arch of
the gateway we are arrested by the
trim artillery sentry. with his Martini
carbine on his arm. A white-gaiter.d
grenadier of Ligonier's were more in
keeping with the scene.
The corporal of the guard iuspects
our pass and we write our names in a
book and are then handed over to o
warrant officer, a master gunner, who
has the keys of the gallery doors. We
ascend by a covered way deep trench
sunk in the solid rock, SO that our
heads are well below the surface-a
surface liable to be swept in time OF
siege with fragments of shell and
whistling miraille, now carpeted with
verdure among the iutting rocks. Here
spring is already at work with her
flower show. Already tall plants OF
some kind of album are beautiful With
spikes of reddish white blossoms, limo.
cent of the scent of garlic, the badge OF
most of the trade.
A purple saffron, with orange-colored
center, nestles in clusters in the hooks,
and shrub of gensta is bursting out
in golden bloom. We soon reach
the mouth of the gloomy gallery. closed
by strong palisaded door The
tunnel is some 10 feet wide by II feet
high, and ascends gently. We pass
here under water dip. which in
creases to a shower bath after a rain.
and we notice the grim, black guns
have wooden waterproofs to protect
them. Glorious are the views that are
given by successive embrasures.
Anon we reach battery where can
non point to Spain. Beneath we see
the race-course, already green, though
worn bare with the tramp of marching
men; for it is the battle-ground of the
garrison. Here. with their backs to
the Mediterranean sea, are rows of tar
gets painted with black figures, re-
duced by the distance down to the size
of dots. These are being fired at by
squads of other black dots. Real live
ones these for the Kings Royal rifles
are at musIetrv practice. Faint comes
the crack of the Martins, and tiny are
the puffs of blue smoke. Beyond them
stretches across the isthmus the narrow
gray mound of sand, pierced at the
center by the broad white road that
leads to Spain.
Wayfarers must keep to this, for on
that bank at intervals are nine sentry
boxes. Between them by night and
~. year in and year out, pace the
British sentinels that watch the neutral
ground. Neutral in tint also, a level
plain and bare; for here neither grows
grass, nor tree, nor flower. We guess
it to be about a mile across to the
Spanish lines and the white-waled
houses of the little town which arises
on the further verge of this little desert.
Mrs nnU,s Sharx, Topnno