The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1898-10-12

over strong force Of soldiers and estab-
fishing himself as governor of this new
and promising country.
The town he founded was called Ca
parra, now known as Pueblo Viejo not
Ear from the present city of San Juan,
for the site of which it was soon after
abandoned. San Juan, the capital oc-
cupies the western end Of a small island
ON the north coast about 21a miles in
length and half a mile in average
breadth. It is connected with the main
land by causeway and two bridges,
defended by small forts, and, lying as
it does between its fine harbor and
stretch of marshy lagoons on one side
and the Atlantic on the other, its posi-
tion is almost impregnable.
The natural advantages for defense
were early seized upon, and the north
west end of the island, which is bluff
and precipitous, is crowned by the fam
ed Moro Castle, which was completed
in the year 1854 The shape of this cas-
tie is that Of an obtuse angle, with
three tiers of batteries facing the sea,
placed one above the other, so that their
fires will cross. The Moro is the citadel
and is small military town in itself,
with barracks, chapel, bakehouse, i'm
merse water tanks, warehouses, officers
quarters, bomb proofs and dungeons by
the sea-
This ancient citadel is the initial
point of the wall which surrounds the
city and which has line Of connected
bastions, with moats, guarded gates,
portcullis and battlements, "fortale-
zas,'' semibastions projecting sentry
turrets-in fact, all the defenses Of
walled town OF city of the middle ages.
On the Atlantic shore, which is steep
and against which the heavy surges roll
continuously, wall Of modern COZ
struction connects the Moro with the
castle Of San Cristobal, which faces
oceanward and also guards the ap-
proaches from the mainland. The castle
is entered by a ramp, on the highest
part of the hill, to the inequalities OF
which she fortifcation is accommodated.
1t can concentrate its fire in any direc-
Hon and controls the city and inner har-
Dor by the Caballero fort, with its %
great guns Stretching from harbor to
sea front, San Cristobal dominates the
inland situation and has practically
three tiers Of batteries behind tortlflca-
tons in great part cut out OF the solid
rock.
Though the Notifications as we find
them now were planned in 1880 and
nearly completed by l6+l, San Crlstobal
in its entirety Was not finished until
lust before the outbreak Of the Amer
can Revolution, or about It'll. Still,
with it's outworks, consisting OF redam
resting on the highest part Of the glacis
and called Fort Abanico on account OF
its fan shape, its meat and modern bat
teries. San Cristobal would have been
fort difficult to storm and take had
our soldiers been compelled to attack 1t.
In addition to the stone walls some
of them nearly 100 feet high, which
inclose the city, there are the outlying
forts of San Antonio and San Geronimo,
which defend the bridges inland, and
ON q small islet off the harbor mouth is
the small but strong fort of Canuelo,
between which and the MORO, less than
q thousand yards distant. all large ships
must pass TO make this port A cham
was formerly stretched between the
Moro and Canuelos III wartime, but
during the recent trouble aud after the
bombardment of San Juan by our fleet
vessel was sunk there and the harbor
mined.
The harbor Of San Juan il one Of the
best in the island and the intramural
city is one Of the Oldest and quaintest
in the new world. 1t was founded with