588 



were made in these stone floors, and ladders leading from 

 one flight to another, enabled persons to ascend to the top 

 from within. It is stated in this Spanish document that the 

 outer staircase was pulled down to build a convent in the 

 neighbourhood, but at what precise period history does not 

 record. The small Towers at the top are believed to have 

 been erected subsequent to the removal of the outer stair, 

 perhaps in 1684, when the British, Dutch, and Flemish 

 Consuls relighted this wide-spreading beacon. 



" With regard to the precise date of its destruction, all that 

 we can learn from Spanish authorities is, that when Molina 

 De Malaga wrote his description of Galicia, in 1549, this 

 staircase did not exist ; for in this old poetic work we find 

 some rhymes referring to it, thus : 



' Pues la Coruna tampoco la deso. 



Gran Puerto do numa fortuna le corre. 



Y hablo de aquerte por sola una Torre 



Antiquo Castillo que llaman el Vieso; 



Aquerte es do dicen que estaba el eyrep, 



Mas esfabuloso sabido lo que era 



Estaba cereada de grand escalera 



Que quien la deshiro no tubo consep? 



Of which the following exceedingly rough, but literal trans- 

 lation, may afford the English reader some idea : 



But Corunna I do not like, 



A Great Port where no fortune runs. 



I speak of this only on account of a Tower, 



An ancient Castle, whicli was called le Vieso (the old) ; 



This is where they say lived the witch, 



But it is a fabulous saying — whatever it was 



Was surrounded by a large staircase, 



Which whatever mounted could not find its way down. 



" The origin of the original Tower, and its name, are 



involved in much obscurity. Galician tradition assigns it to 



the woi'kraanship of Hercules himself Some characters, 



scarcely legible, on one of the stones, says the writer of this 



