The railway now in course of construction passes through these woods, which may ere long offer quite picturesque scenery for travelers, especially when the cork trees are bearing acorns, which form the principal food for the fattening of large herds of swine during certain seasons of the year, in this way, also, contributing to the value of this tree, which, like the other kinds of oak trees, is of long and tardy growth. The tree from which the cork is obtained is somewhat abundant in the mountainous districts of Andalusia. It grows to a height of about 30 feet, and resembles the Quercus ilex, or evergreen oak, and attains to a great age. After arriving at a certain state of maturity it periodically sheds its bark, but this bark is found to be of better quality when artificially removed from the tree, which may be effected without injury to the tree itself. After the tree has attained twenty-five years it may be barked, and the operation is afterward repeated once in every seven years. The quality of the cork seems to improve with the increasing age of the tree, which is said to live over one hundred and fifty years. The bark is taken off during July and August.
Cork dust is also obtained from this cork wood, and is much used in the packing of grapes, which fruit is largely shipped from the eastern coast of Spain, especially from Almeria, during the vintage seasons, for the American and British markets.—Reports of U.S. Consuls.
GIBRALTAR.
The point or rock known as Gibraltar is a promontory two and one-half miles long and from a quarter to three-quarters of a mile wide. It rises abruptly from the sandy shore to a height at its highest point of 1,408 ft. It is composed of gray limestone, honeycombed with caves and subterranean passages, some of which contain most beautiful stalactites in the form of massive pillars.
Gibraltar is emphatically a fortress, 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 known to the Greek and Roman geographers as Calpe or Alybe, the two names being probably corruptions of the same local (perhaps Phenician) word. The eminence on the African coast near Ceuta, which bears the modern English name of Apes' Hill, was then designated Abyla; and Calpe and Abyla, at least according to an ancient and widely current interpretation, formed the renowned pillars of Hercules (Herculis columnæ), which for centuries were the limits of enterprise to the seafaring peoples of the Mediterranean world.
The strategic importance of the rock appears to have been first discovered by the Moors, who, when they crossed over from Africa in the eighth century, selected it as the site of a fortress. From their leader, Tarik Ibn Zeyad, it was called Gebel Tarik or Tarik's Hill; and, though the name had a competitor in Gebel af Futah, or Hill of the Entrance, it gradually gained acceptance, and still remains sufficiently recognizable in the corrupted form of the present day. The first siege of the rock was in 1309, when it was taken by Alonzo Perez de Guzman for Ferdinand IV. of Spain, who, in order to attract inhabitants to the spot, offered an asylum to swindlers, thieves, and murderers, and promised to levy no taxes on the import or export of goods. The attack of Ismail Ben Ferez, in 1315 (second siege), was frustrated; but in 1333 Vasco Paez de Meira, having allowed the fortifications and garrison to decay, was obliged to capitulate to Mahomet IV. (third siege). Alphonso's attempts to recover possession (fourth siege) were futile, though pertinacious and heroic, and he was obliged to content himself with a tribute for the rock from Abdul Melek of Granada; but after his successful attack on Algeciras in 1344 he was encouraged to try his fortune again at Gibraltar. In 1349 he invested the rock, but the siege (fifth siege) was brought to an untimely close by his death from the plague in February, 1350. The next or sixth siege resulted simply in the transference of the coveted position from the hands of the King of Morocco to those of Yussef III. of Granada; and the seventh, undertaken by the Spanish Count of Niebla, Enrico de Guzman, proved fatal to the besieger and his forces. In 1462, however, success attended the efforts of Alphonso de Arcos (eighth siege), and in August the rock passed once more under Christian sway. The Duke of Medina Sidonia, a powerful grandee who had assisted in its capture, was anxious to get possession of the fortress, and though Henry IV. at first managed to maintain the claims of the crown, the duke ultimately made good his ambition by force of arms (ninth siege), and in 1469 the king was constrained to declare his son and his heirs perpetual governors of Gibraltar. In 1479 Ferdinand and Isabella made the second duke Marquis of Gibraltar, and in 1492 the third duke, Don Juan, was reluctantly allowed to retain the fortress. At length, in 1501, Garcilaso de la Vega was ordered to take possession of the place in the king's name, and it was formally incorporated with the domains of the crown. After Ferdinand and Isabella were both dead the duke, Don Juan, tried in 1506 to recover possession, and added a tenth to the list of sieges. Thirty-four years afterward the garrison had to defend itself against a much more formidable attack (eleventh siege)—the pirates of Algiers having determined to recover the rock for Mahomet and themselves. The conflict was severe, but resulted in the repulse of the besiegers. After this the Spaniards made great efforts to strengthen the place, and they succeeded so well that throughout Europe Gibraltar was regarded as impregnable.