.558 
GIBRALTAR. 
tation to irttoxication. It is indeed difgufting to fee fo 
many people lying in the ftveets in the nioft degrading 
Hate of inebriety. Drunkennefs appears to be no crime, 
except in thofe who are on duty ; and every man com¬ 
ing off a working party is ordered to be paid eight- 
pence on the fpot, which he immediately proceeds to 
fpend in a kind of bad wine, called black-Jlrap. Houfes 
for the fale of this pernicious liquor are found at every 
flep, and furnifh no fmall part of the revenue. 
Tlie fituation of officers in Gibraltar during the time 
of war, is extremely confined, and almofl: a date of im- 
prifonment, from which it is impoflible to dir, with no 
nther amufement or refource than what they can create 
among themfelves. There has been, however, a garri- 
fon library mod judicioufly let on-foot, which, to a 
mind fiifceptible or defirous of information, is an indi- 
tulion of the mod advantageous and laudable kind. A 
committee of officers is appointed, to whom the choice 
of the book's is left; and in the feleclion none are ad¬ 
mitted but tlie mod approved productions. All inte- 
reding new publications are purchafed, and likewife a 
regular fiicceflion of the bed Englidt newfpapers. 
Every officer, on his arrival at Gibraltar, contributes 
one week’s pay to the fund, v/hich conflitutes hirfi a 
fiibfcriber, paying only the additional fum of four dol¬ 
lars annually. By means of tliis trifling fubfeription, 
the library is well fupplied ; and a new building is now 
erected, calculated on purpofe for literary ptirfiiits. 
In time of peace, the garrifon is more fertile in amufe¬ 
ment, an intercourfe being then permitted with the 
Spanifh territories, whereby the troops are amply and 
clieaply furnidied with every thing tliey can want. But 
when war, dedroying all friendly communication, cuts 
off' thefe fupplies, the coaft of Barbary becomes the 
only refource ; and. it is a very precarious one ; for, 
v\ hen the plague rages there, which is fo often the cafe, 
the mod rigorous and drift meafures are neceffariiy 
taken, to prevent its introduftion into the garrifon, of 
which it v/ould mod undoubtedly prove the ruin. To 
p;uard againd this dreadful malady, a lazaretto is eda- 
blifliedon the neutral ground, where quarantine is per¬ 
formed. I n the event of war on the one fide, and pedilence 
on the other, it often happens tliat the garrifon is com¬ 
pelled to live entirely on fait provifion ; not having 
even tlie advantage or comfort of vegetables, which 
are at all times fcarce, .and very dear. During tlie 
lummer, the climate is excedively arid, and the reflec. 
tion of the f un from the rock alniod melting, and very 
didreding to the eyes. In winter tlie weather is often 
very cold, and the damps from the heavy rains fo great, 
as to render fire neceifary for ttvo or three months in 
the year. Notwithdanding thefe inconveniences, the 
climate is far from being unhealthy ; nor is tlie condi¬ 
tion of the gasrifon by any means the word in the world. 
—The rock of Gibraltar is didant fixteen miles north 
from Ceuta, and feventy fouth from Seville. Lat. 
<36. 8. N. Ion. II. 19. E. Peak of Tenerift'e. 
The pod'cllion of Gibraltar is edeemed of the highed 
importance to Great Britain. It not only gives us the 
command of the Straits and their navigation, but af¬ 
fords refrcdiment and accommodation to our fleets in 
time of war, and to our merchant diip.s at all times ; 
which, to a maritime power, is of the utmod advantage. 
From its fituation, it divides the power of both the 
kingdoms of France and'Spain ; that is, it prevents the 
facility of communication by fea between the did'erent 
parts of thefe kingdoms; the great and good policy of 
which has been often experienced by the navy of Eng¬ 
land. It awes alfo the piratical dates of Barbary, and 
in like manner the marauding emperor ot Morocco ; 
infomuch, that our commerce is more fecure than that 
of any other European power, which gives us indnite 
advantages in point of freight. It is likewil'e liighly 
iavourable to our trade in every part of the Mediterra- 
nean, and gives us the entire command of the entrance 
into and out of that extenfive inland fea. 
Much has been faid of the foffil bones found in the 
rock of Gibraltar ; and the general idea which exids 
concerning them is that they are found in a petrified 
date, and inclofed in the folid calcareous rock ; but 
major Imrie, in his Mineralogical Account of the Rock 
of Gibraltar, recently publiflied, has diewn this to be 
a midake, which could arife only from inaccurate ob- 
fervation and falfe deduftion. His words are: “In 
the perpendicular fid'ures of the rock, and in fome of 
the caverns of the mountain (all of which afford evi¬ 
dent proofs of their former communication with the 
furface), a calcareous concretion is found, of a reddifh 
brown ferruginous colour, with an earthy frafture, and 
confiderable induration, incloling the bones of various 
animals, fome of which have the appearance of being- 
human. Thefe bones are of various fixes, and lie in all 
direftions, intermixed with Ibells of fnails, ■ fragments 
of the calcareous rock, and particles of fpar; all of 
which materials are ftill to be feen in their natural un¬ 
combined dates, partially fcattered over the furface of 
the mountain. Thefe having been fwept, by heavy 
rains at different periods, from the furface into the fitu- 
ations above deferibed, and having remained for a long 
feries of years in thofe places of red, expofed to the 
permeating aftion of water, have become inveloped in, 
and cemented by, the calcareous matter which it depo- 
fits. The bones, in this compofition, have not the 
fmalled appearance of being petrified ; and if they 
have undergone any change, it is more like that of cal¬ 
cination than that of petrifaftion, as the mod folid parts 
of tliem generally admit of being cut and feraped down 
with the fame cafe as chalk. 
“ Bones combined in Inch concretions are not pecu¬ 
liar to Gibraltar; they are found in fuch large quanti¬ 
ties in the country of Dalmatia, and upon its coads in 
the idands of Cherfo and Ofero, that fome naturaliits 
have been induced to go fo far as to affert, that there 
has been a regular dratiim of fuch matter in that coun¬ 
try, and that its prefent broken and interrupted appear¬ 
ance has been caufed by earthquakes, or other convul- 
fions, experienced in that part of the globe. But, of 
late years, a traveller (abbe Alberto Fortis) lias given 
a minute defeription of the concretion in which the 
bones are found in that country : and by liis account it 
appears, that with regard to fituation, compofition, and 
colour, it is perfeftly fimilar to tliat found at Gibraltar. 
By liis defeription, it alfo appears that the two moun¬ 
tain rocks of Gibraltar and Dalmatia conlid of the fame 
fpecies of calcareous done ; from which it is to be pre¬ 
fumed, that the concretions in both have been formed 
in the fame manner and about the fame periods,” 
Major Imrie found here the complete jaw-bone of a 
dieep ; it contained its full complement of teeth, the 
enamel of which was perfedt, and its whitenefs and 
liidre in no degree impaired. In tlie hollow parts of 
fome of the large bones was contained a minute crydal- 
lization of pure and colourlefs calcareous fpar ; but, 
in mod, the interior part confided of a fparry crud of a 
reddifli colour, fcarcely in any degree tranfparent. 
Upon the wed fide of the mountain, towards its bafe, 
fome drata occur, which are heterogeiiial to the moun¬ 
tain rock: the fird, or highed, forms the fegment of a 
circle ; its convex lide is towards the mountain, and it 
liopes alfo in that direction. This dratum confilis of a 
number of thin beds ; the outward one, being the thin¬ 
ned, is in a date of decompofitiorr, and is mouldering 
down into a blackidi brown or ferruginous coloured 
earth. Tlie beds, inferior to this, progredively increafe 
in breadth to feventeen inches, where the dratification 
reds upon a rock of an argillaceous nature. This lad 
bed conlids of quartz of a blackilh blue colour, in the 
lepta or cracks of which are found fine quartz crydals, 
A colouflefsj 
