The Irish standard., 1895-08-17
q Blu 81 l0cllll
3tftb hich Has Been Lis keneA ~
4 n

ssSsS
ttich Has Been Il ikenedt ~ &,
d 9 cronching Lion.
s;sssr The great Rock ot Gibraltar which 81 I
1 some sfanciful person has likened
ezpuch hing lion facing all Europe, IS called
the Lock OF the Mediterranean, lick ito
which John Bull holds the key says the
Argosys 8s$ 5sS|sEs
finest everybody expects To- find that
Gibraltar is an island. It is always pict~
Sured with ships lying at its foot, and the
little strip OF ground connecting " with
mainland of Spain is kept put Of sight.
This little strip is called the neutral
/ ground" and day by day and night by
night the 1sentries Of two nations pace
itat either end, with e*dead line be-
tween them, and when man passes thai
without giving an account Of himself. he
sissshot dead. At least they say he would a
he shot. dead. But it is altogether likely
that IT the records were examined It would
BE found that nobody ever has been.
n we always, for some unknown reason,
think OF Africa and Tangier as being.
nearer to Gibraltar than is Spain. But
An reality it is, part Of the Spanish main,
land, and Africa, the silent, grim
sphinx.s country, lies IA miles away to the
south. = Il. E7s
No rock In the world has had 30 many
histories as Gibraltar. 1t was the first
landing place in Europe of the Moors and
their last foothold before they lied back
into the wastes of Africa.
Between. those times they made Spain
beautiful with buildings like the Alham-.
bra, and left their mark SO deep that as
long as our present civilization exists
their wonders of architecture will be ia
NOUS III
The rock is about three miles long and
almost a mile wide and 1,400 feet above
the sea lat its highest point. 1t Is COM
posed Of gray marble, and seen from the
sea it is barren, grassless and treeless.
. But down in the crevices OF the cllns are
little rayines where there are wooded
hooks full Of cartridges and pigeons and
Barbary apes.
(. Nobody is allowed to shoot on the rocks
sot that the upper regions OF Gibraltar are az
oYerrun with these half tame creatures.
run from the great Halls of st. Michael,
whose opening is 1000 feet above the sea
level, down to the place where bad air
has cut off further exploration and where
the boom of the sea can be heard TAR be-
low.
Thirteen times the rock has been be-
sieged. Nfoors held it for $50 years, and
then Moors and Span:ards took 1t from
each other again and again until at last
the Moors, 100000 of them, were driven
away in 1910.
Spain held it until 17O4, and then the
English took a hand in the fight, and
true to John Bulbs principle of keeping
the ground upon which he sets his lordlyI
foot, he owns it yet.
But It has not been without some
trouble to himself.
There is d whole long story in the siege
Of 1873, when Gen. George Elliot held tha
rock. for over three years with 900 half
starved men against the combined French
and Spanish forces. -s ~
!. England was fighting our own little col.
enies at that time and had an African war
or two on her hands besides;iso she look
ed across the seas, babe Gen. Elliot good
luck, and left HIM alone with his garri-
son to fight it out as best he could.
He was plucky and brave, and he had
the best bone OF England beside him, and
the rock is still theirs. They had the
thanks of Northumberland of them as
came home again.
Gen. Elliot used in his defense the
novel expedient of heating his cannon
balls red hot, so that when they struck a
ship they would set 1t on fire. 4.
Since then Gibraltar's history has not
been very eventful, but it retains its In
teresting--we might almost say it's fasci-
mating .,,.... r:. i K
s 1t is Gibraltar the fortress which is
most interesting after all. Somebody
has said that the rock is a huge joke like
!; the wooden horse which the enemy ran
into Troy filled with soldiers. It looks
80 bland and innocent with all it's ugli-
ness that no one would imagine the depth
Of IT'S cunning arrangements for fighting.
t4s1s Nobody except the command antt and
4 the engineers who planned the present
Notifications know the rocks real
strength. There are ramparts all about
the foot ION the western side and they ara
commanded by guns and gunners who
know exactly what to do in case Of at
tack although generations of them will
probably come and go before there is a
real attempt to scale the rock. s3 II
N On that side which looks toward Spain
are long galleries, something like the
classmates In our own little old-fashioned
forts, only these galleries are cut in the
solid rock and are high up on the hill.
II Below is bridge over a moat. Hidden
Under 1t is + great powder magazine, and
at the touch of a little electric button
away off in the middle of offices some
where the whole solid piece Of masonry
could be blown into dust and Gibraltar
be an island at last.
Electricity is used in all sorts of GU
srious ways Up on the head of the rock
are monster guns. There is a signal sta
ton here, but about half the time the
clouds so cover the summit that il was
impossible to aim and fire the guns.
AT last q clever man named Watkins
invented q very clever device. %5e. i. H $%:
sst It is an object finder. / believe 1t Is
constructed something on the same pritl-
ciple as the object finder in q kodak It
Is all arranged with such mathematical
nicely that a man s:ttingiat little table
I'm an Office clear down below the guns
can train them in position so that their
shot will strike ships lying miles on. tn;
the, harbor, ships that could not be seen
from hepoints where the guns are. - An
this is done by electricity. 81
@ Then, too, the water all about is full of
5torpedoes and there are telegraphs, tele-
phones, search lights and all sorts Of con-
trivances to annihilate distance and dark
4 ness ready for instant use.