. Gibraltar and its sieges, with a description of its natural features . - of the engineer-officers of the time. Everypoint of vantage had its battery or bastion. Thenatural advantages of the position were carefullyutilised, and the approaches were commanded byheavy guns, which could pour on an advancingenemy a withering fire. In all, the fortificationswere aimed with six hundred and sixty-three piecesof artillery. The town of Gibraltar, says Drinkwater, is builton a bed of red sand. The houses were composedof different materials, principally of a solid well-tempered cement called tapia ; but
. Gibraltar and its sieges, with a description of its natural features . - of the engineer-officers of the time. Everypoint of vantage had its battery or bastion. Thenatural advantages of the position were carefullyutilised, and the approaches were commanded byheavy guns, which could pour on an advancingenemy a withering fire. In all, the fortificationswere aimed with six hundred and sixty-three piecesof artillery. The town of Gibraltar, says Drinkwater, is builton a bed of red sand. The houses were composedof different materials, principally of a solid well-tempered cement called tapia ; but some of the rock-stone, plastered, and blue-washed on the outside, so asto moderate the fiery ra3^s of the sun. These weregenerally covered with tiles, but the flat terracedroofs remained in the Spanish houses, and, in many,the mirandas or towers, whence the inmates, with-out removiniif from home, could luxuriate in a brightand ample prospect of the Bay and neighbouring MOORISH EDIFICES. 31 Most conspicuous among the buildings was theold Moorish castle, which recalled to the spectatorthe palmy days of Saracenic supremacy in was situated on the north-west side of the hill,and originally consisted of a triple wall, the outer-most of which rose sheer from the waters lower portions, however, had been destroyedbefore the siege, and on their ruins was planted theGrand Battery. The walls formed an oblong, ascend-ing the hill, with the principal towei-, or governorsresidence, at the upper angle. The remains of amosque were still visible; as also those of a Saraceniccourt, and a tank or reservoir for water. Ruins of Moorish edifices were discernible also onWindmill Hill, and at Europa. Those on the hillwere in a condition which rendered it impossible todetermine their original character; at Europa theyhave been converted by the Spaniards into a chapel,dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Fragments of Moorishwalls run along the waters edge; and near
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookidgibraltarits, bookyear1879
