or even a small stone descending from a considerable height, under
such circumstances, would be sure, if it fell in a boat, to go through
its bottom, causing it to fill at once, and would be equally fatal if
falling upon the heads or bodies of human beings. The rock, which is of
the nature already described, admitted of being easily hewn into such
shape as was desired, while exposure to the atmosphere soon hardened it
to the required consistency and resisting power. A second discharge of
such a mortar might possibly involve as much danger to the defenders as
to the enemy. It must be remembered that at this period, between three
and four hundred years ago, the use of artillery was comparatively in
its infancy, and iron mortars, when they were procurable, were of the
crudest manufacture.

As forming a contrast to those days, and to the present means of
conducting offensive and defensive warfare, it may be appropriate to
mention that the author happened to be at Gibraltar not long ago, when a
hundred-ton cannon was landed there. With this extraordinary piece of
ordnance, it was believed that an effectual shot might be fired across
the strait to Africa! As it is at least twenty miles from the Fortress
of the Rock to the opposite coast, we took the declaration of the
artillerist who expressed this opinion of the power of the gun with
considerable allowance.

Hagar Tal Girnal--the "General's Rock"--is the name of a small,
outlying, and nearly inaccessible ledge off the shore of Gozo, upon
which there still grows in profusion, springing from the crevices of the
rock, the curious plant known to botanists as _Fungus Melitensis_,
Maltese fungus. This was so highly prized by the Knights of St. John as
to be most carefully gathered in its prime, dried in the sun, and
preserved as a stancher of blood in case of dangerous wounds, and also
for the suppression of internal hemorrhage. Indeed, the fungus was
believed to possess a variety of valuable medicinal properties. Small
packages of it were sent annually by the Knights as precious gifts to
the European potentates, it being equally prized by the recipients, who
believed it to be otherwise unattainable. It is certainly a very simple
weed, which is in flower about the last of April. When fresh it is of a
dark red color, like our sorrel, and is of a spongy softness, but it is
no longer held in such high repute either as an internal medicine or as
an efficacious dressing for wounds. Th