rtress, and in some respects its
fortifications are unique. On the eastern side the rock needs no
defense beyond its own precipitous cliffs, and in all other directions
it has been rendered practically impregnable. Besides a sea wall
extending at intervals round the western base of the rock, and
strengthened by curtains and bastions and three formidable forts,
there are batteries in all available positions from the sea wall up to
the summit, 1,350 feet above the sea, and a remarkable series of
galleries has been hewn out of the solid face of the rock toward the
north and northwest. These galleries have an aggregate length of
between two and three miles, and their breadth is sufficient to let a
carriage pass. Portholes are cut at intervals of twelve yards, so
contrived that the gunners are safe from the shot of any possible
assailants. At the end of one of the galleries hollowed out in a
prominent part of the cliff is St. George's Hall, 50 feet long by 85
feet wide, in which the governor was accustomed to give fetes.
Alterations, extensions, and improvements are continually taking place
in the defensive system, and new guns of the most formidable sort are
gradually displacing or supplementing the old fashioned ordnance.

The whole population of Gibraltar, whether civil or military, is
subjected to certain stringent rules. For even a day's sojourn the
alien must obtain a pass from the town major, and if he wish to remain
longer, a consul or householder must become security for his good
behavior. Licenses of residence are granted only for short
periods--ten, fifteen, or twenty days--but they can be renewed if
occasion require. Military officers may introduce a stranger for
thirty days. A special permit is necessary if the visitor wishes to
sketch.

Though the town of Gibraltar may be said to date from the fourteenth
century, it has preserved very little architectural evidence of its
antiquity. Rebuilt on an enlarged and improved plan after its almost
complete destruction during the great siege, it is still, on the
whole, a mean-looking town, with narrow streets and lanes and an
incongruous mixture of houses after the English and the Spanish types.
As a proprietor may at any moment be called upon to give up his house
and ground at the demand of the military authorities, he is naturally
deterred from spending his money on substantial or sumptuous
erections. The area of the town is about one hundred acres.

Gibraltar was