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.

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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.