The
circumference of this rock amounts to about a mile. It is cut round
perpendicularly to a height of 130 feet and thirty feet below the
top of the moat by which it is surrounded, which cutting is equally
perpendicular, so that the whole height of the escarpment is 160
feet, and the rock, consequently, inaccessible. There is no pathway
leading to the fortress, and I was, therefore, extremely curious to
know by what means the summit was reached. In the side of the rock
itself was a very low iron door, which is only visible in time of
peace, as the ditch can be filled a foot above its level when
required. Torches were lighted, and I was carefully conducted
through narrow low passages, which led with numerous windings
upwards through the body of the rock. These passages were closed in
many places by massive iron gates. Some considerable distance above
the precipitous part of the rock, we again emerged into the open
air; narrow paths and steps, protected by strongly-fortified works,
led from this place to the highest point. The latter was somewhat
flattened, (140 feet in diameter), completely undermined, and so
contrived, that it could be heated red-hot.
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