cterized many of the galleries.
"Why?" he asked in turn. "Because," we added, "of the concussion,
reverberation, and the density of accumulated smoke." He smiled, and
replied: "There is something in that!" The fact is, the deafening
reechoing of sound would prove fatal to gunners in a very short time, if
suffocation itself did not ensue. We were told that all recently
constructed batteries at the rock are left open to the sky, which would
seem to indicate that the government engineers recognize these simple
facts.

The largest cave, called St. Michael's, is eleven hundred feet above
the sea level, with lofty halls sixty feet high and two or three hundred
feet long. Here many fossil human remains have been found from time to
time. The fortress is constantly so provisioned with stores, and such
arrangements are perfected for a water supply, that with but a few
days', nay, possibly a few hours' notice, it could be put in a condition
to withstand a year's siege. Donkeys were employed to ascend the steep
and winding path which leads to the top of the lookout station, for it
is a tedious climb. Wherever soil could get holding place upon the face
of the cliff, wild flowers had burst forth and were thriving after their
own lovely fashion. Here were daturas and daphnes mingled with
heliotrope; the latter so overgrown as to be a small tree rather than a
shrub. Stooping down to gather some of these, we looked into a cannon's
mouth, a screened battery,--screened by heliotrope and blooming heath!
Further up we came upon the face of the rock looking towards the
south-east, where the wild monkeys claim undisputed possession: their
home for centuries past. They are quite a recognized institution here,
though they must be satisfied with very frugal fare, the stunted
vegetation affording but small variety. It may be doubted if they are
very gentle or amiable creatures; for when it was discovered that they
were becoming gradually extinct a few years ago, some were imported from
Africa to recruit their numbers; but no sooner were the foreigners let
loose near the spot, than the Gibraltar monkeys resisted the intrusion,
and soon killed every one of the new-comers.

On the north side of the rock we visited some half-artificial,
half-natural galleries, from whence scores of grim muzzled guns of
heavy calibre command the Neutral Ground, which, so far as England
controls it, is also entirely undermined, ready to be sprung upon the
approach of