OF GIBRALTAR. 39 



CHAPTER II. 



THE town of Gibraltar is situated on the north- 

 west portion of the rock. It is nearly five thousand, 

 eight hundred and twenty feet long, and ahout one 

 thousand feet broad, defended on all exposed sides by 

 fortifications of the highest order ; perhaps there is 

 no garrison in the world better equipped in warlike 

 appointments than Gibraltar. The new works which 

 are now being constructed at an enormous expense, 

 will render this little rock still more impregnable. The 

 excavated galleries, which are mounted with heavy 

 metal, are wonderful works of human art, and are 

 considered as master-pieces of skilful engineering; 

 they are objects of interest as well as of curiosity, to 

 every stranger who may be so fortunate as to procure 

 admission into these subterranean batteries. 



The number of houses in the town was estimated, a 

 few years ago, at one thousand, three hundred and 

 eighty-four, not including government quarters, of 

 which there are nearly four hundred, besides three 

 hundred and thirty private houses in the southern part 

 of the rock. The town is composed of only a few 

 wide streets, running nearly parallel with each other, 

 and others intersecting these at right angles. The 

 generality of the streets are irregularly laid out, and 

 from the nature of the rock, little or no uniformity 



