teries on the island opposite, and maintaining a siege for
forty days; but he was obliged to withdraw. Three years later he made
another attack, but succeeded no better. Even now one can see the dents
and holes made in the fort by the cannon-balls fired in these sieges.

In 1819 Florida was ceded to our Government, and St. Augustine became a
city of the United States.

Approaching St. Augustine from the sea, the town looks as if it might be
a port on the Mediterranean coast. The light-colored walls of its houses
and gardens, masses of rich green foliage cropping up everywhere in the
town and about it, the stern old fortress to the north of it, and the
white and glittering sands of the island which separates its harbor from
the sea, make it very unlike the ordinary idea of an American town.

In the center of the city is a large open square called the Plaza de la
Constitucion, surrounded by beautiful live-oaks and pride-of-India
trees, with their long, hanging-mosses and sweet-smelling blossoms.

Most of the streets are narrow, without sidewalks, and from the
high-walled gardens comes the smell of orange-blossoms, while roses and
other flowers bloom everywhere and all the time.

At the southern end of the town stands the old Convent of St. Francis,
which is now used as barracks for United States soldiers.

The old palace of the governor still stands, but now contains the
post-office and other public buildings. There was once a wall around the
town, and one of the gates of this still remains. There is a tower on
each side of the gateway, and the sentry-boxes, and loopholes through
which the guards used to look out for Indians and other enemies, are
still there. Along the harbor edge of the town is a wall nearly a mile
long, built at great expense by the United States Government as a
defense against the encroachments of the sea. This is called the sea
wall, and its smooth top, four feet wide, is a favorite promenade.
Walking northward on this wall, or on the street beside it, if you like
that better, we reach, a little outside of the town, what I consider the
most interesting feature of St. Augustine. This is the old fort of San
Marco, which, since it came into the possession of our government, has
been renamed Fort Marion.

[Illustration: THE SPANISH COAT-OF-ARMS.]

The old fort is not a ruin, but is one of the best-preserved specimens
of the style of fortification of the Middle Ages. We cross the moat and
the draw