592 



at all acquainted with the locality, knows that there is no 

 such mountain in this vicinity as that described by Laborde, 

 and the position of the Hercules Tower can easily be ascer- 

 tained by those who have not seen it by referring to any of 

 the Admiralty's charts of the coast; and, moreover, a light 

 on "a very high mountain a league from the harbour" would 

 be of little service for nautical purposes.' 



" I find, however, on again referring to the work of La- 

 borde, that it consists of two parts — an itinerary, or journal, 

 which appears to have been written from personal observa- 

 tion, and a running comment, in the form of notes, and 

 printed in a smaller type, on the population, commerce, ad- 

 ministration, natural history, &c. &c. of the countries visited, 

 and which is evidently derived from other sources, and com- 

 piled from different authorities. It happens that this latter is 

 the part quoted by Sir William, and not the text of the Jour- 

 nal, where, at p. 4o5, speaking of the harbour, he says : ' The 

 harbour is in the form of a crescent ; at the two points are 

 the castles of Sainte-Clare and Saint Martin, which defend 

 it, and a little island which shelters it from the north wind. 

 All travellers have mentioned the ancient tower which ex- 

 cites admiration from its height, and its strong and solid 

 walls. The Galicians declare that it was built by Hercules, 

 whose name it still bears ; this is to attribute it to the Phoe- 

 nician merchants who frequented this coast ; but a Roman 

 inscription has been found near this tower, which ascribes it 

 to the god Mars. If it is really the work of the Phoenicians, 

 as its antiquity and the tradition lead us to believe, this ac- 

 count may be reconciled by supposing that the Romans, 

 wishing to preserve this monument, and in gratitude for their 

 victory over the Carthaginians, who sprung from the Phoe- 

 nicians, consecrated it to their tutelary deity.' 



" As this was a matter of some popular interest in connex- 

 ion with the antiquities and early history of this country, 

 Mr. Wilde quoted several extracts from what Sir William 



