244 
by hum in fome meafure carried into exe- 
€ution : but fince his death more perfeétly 
“completed by General O*Hara. Thev 
“are conftructed, not only tor the protection 
ef the men, but alfo for placing cannon to 
‘armoy the enemy im fttuations macceilible 
“only by fuch a contrivance. 
Thefe galleries are very extenfive, 
ierce the rock in feveral places and in 
various dire€tions, and at various degrees 
of elevation; all ct them have a com- 
Hlunication with each other, either by 
flights of fteps cut in the rock, or by 
wooden ftairs, where the paflages are re- 
quired to be very perpendicular. 
The centinels may now be relieved 
during a fiege from one poft to another in 
perfect fafety, whereas previoully to the 
conftmméting of — thefe, galleries avait 
number of men were. killed by the 
Spaniards, while marching to their feveral 
fiations. ‘The width of thefe galleries is 
-about twelve fect, their height about 
fourteen. The rock is breken through 
in various places, both for the purpofe of 
giving light and for placing the guns to 
bear on the enemy. [In different parts 
there are fpacious recefies capable of ac- 
commodating a confiderable number of 
men. To thefe recefles they give names, 
fuch Jas.) Stier atirek Ss: Chamber. St. 
George’s Hall, &c. The whole of thefe 
Aingular firactures have been formed out 
ef the folid rock by blafting with gun- 
powder. Through the politenefs of an 
officer on duty, 2 place called Simart’s 
Refervoir was opened for our inipection, 
which is a great curiolity and not 
generally permitted to be fhewn. It is 
a {pring at a contiderable depth in the 
body of the rock, and is above 7oo feet 
above the level of the fea; we defeended 
into the cavern that contains it by a rope 
Jadder, and with the aid of lighted candles 
proceeded through a narrow paflage’ over 
cryftallized protuberances of the rock till 
we came to a hollow, which appears to 
have been opened by fome convullion of 
nature. Here trom’a bed of gems ariles 
the falutary fount, clear as the brilliant 
of the eaft, and cold as the icicle. We 
hailed the nymph of the grot, and proftrat- 
ing ourfelves, quaffed hygean nectar trom 
her fparry urn. When reftored to the 
light of day, we obtained, through the 
medium of the fame gentleman, the key of 
St. George’s Hall, at which we arrived by 
a very intricate and gloomy path to the 
{pacious excavation, which is upwards of 
an hundred feet. in length, its height 
nearly the fame. It is formed in a femi- 
circular part of the rock; {pacious aper~ 
Fortifications of G thraltar.. 
tures are broken through, where cannon of 
a very large calibre command the ifthmus, 
the Spanifh lines, and a great part of the 
bay. The top of the rock is pierced” 
through, fo as to introduce fufficient 
light to enable you to view every part of 
it. It appears almoft incredible that fo 
large an excavation could be formed by 
gunpowder, without blowing upthe whole 
of that part of the rock, and ftill.more 
fo, that they fhould be able to dire&t the 
operations of fuch an inftrument, fo as to 
render it fubfervient to the purpofe of 
elegance. We found in the hall a table, 
placed, I fuppofe, for the conyeniency of 
thofe who are traverling the rock. The 
cloth was {pread, the wine went round, 
and we made the vaulted roof refound 
with the accents of mirth and the fongs of 
conviviality. Having fufficiently re- 
frefhed ourfelves, we mounted by a flight 
of wooden fteps to the outfide of this 
portion of the rock, where feated on a 
crag that proje&ted from the main body of 
it, I contemplated the fimple, yet grand 
objects that were before me; thefe were 
the ifthmus that conneéts Gibraltar with 
the main land, the purple mountains of. 
Spain dying imperceptibly away into the 
atmofphere, and the Mediteranean, ter-. 
minated by the line of the horizon, which 
was now and then broken by the white 
fail of fome diftant veffel that difappeared 
almoft the moment it was obferved. Above 
my head towered the ftoney ridges of 
Calpe. From this place we proceeded 
upwards by a winding road cut with 
infinite labour, till we arrived at the. 
fignal houfe: This houfe is erected on. 
one of the higheft elevations of the rock, 
and a ferjeant’s guard is conttantly on_ 
duty there to put up the fignals that are 
‘held out on various occafions. _ Every 
evening a guns fired at fun-fet from this 
place. As feveral of the company were 
very much fatigued, and their curiofity nat 
fo ardent as that of two or three belonging ~ 
to them, they determined to proceed flowly - 
towards St. Michael's cave without feek- 
ing any more adventures. A Captain 
****, another and mylelf determined to . 
elimb to the top of two lofty ridges that - 
were out of the common road, and might 
be confidered as the very fummit of the 
mountain. In attaining this giddy height, 
our hands and feet were feverely lacerated ~ 
and bruifed by the edges of the crags and _ 
the thorny plants that grew -in. their 
interftices. - From the cloud-capt fummit 
of this column of Hercules, we behold the 
fhore where ancient Atlas fpreads_ his 
bread {houlders, an. impregnable rampart. 
zo 
