TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



58 



CHAPTER III. 



GIBRALTAR AND ITS ENVIRONS. 



^^Fhe first part of our voyage was thus concluded, 

 and we had reached the Pillars of Hercules, which 

 have been usually considered as the limit of the 

 boldest enterprises of the ancients. Many of the 

 passengers went on shore the same day, desirous of 

 viewing a country possessing so many claims to 

 our attention. The rock of Gibraltar, Mons Calpe, 

 forms the nucleus of a small tongue of land, which 

 extends into the sea from north to south, and is 

 connected with the continent only by a low sandy 

 slip. On the southern point, called Europa Point, 

 and upon the west side, it rises in the form of a 

 terrace, but towards the north and east its steep 

 walls make it absolutely inaccessible. Its highest 

 point, the Sugar Loaf, is 1439 English feet above 

 the level of the sea, the Rock Battery 1350, the 

 Signal House 1^76, Windmill-hill 330, and the 

 lowest spot, Europa Point, 105 feet. The town 

 lies upon the western part, which is the most 

 habitable and level. It is protected by the sea- 

 batteries, and the formidable rows of cannon pro- 

 jecting from tlie casemates hewn in the upper part 



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