Scientific American Supplement, No. 711 | Page 4

the larger portion of these visitors consists of
laborers, coal heavers, market people, and others engaged in general

traffic.
A new industry in cork has lately sprung up, in which leading Spanish
and native commercial firms in Gibraltar are directly interested to a
considerable extent. Extensive warehouses for the storing of cork wood
and machinery for the manufacture of bottle corks have recently been
established at the Spanish lines, about a mile distant from this fortress,
in Spanish territory, where large quantities of cork have already been
stored. The cork is obtained and collected from the valuable trees,
which are owned by the representatives of some of the oldest nobility
of Spain, who have sold the products of their extensive woods to
private individuals for periods reaching as far on as ten years, for which
concession large cash advances have already been made. The woods
commence at a distance of about twelve miles from Gibraltar, and are
of considerable extent.
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