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Almeida was a town of very great strength, but Massena opened fire on it about the 23rd of August, and it was obliged to capitulate as soon afterwards as the 27th, a magazine containing most of the ammunition having blown up, taking with it great part of the town and the fortifications; the governor being thus disappointed of his desire to detain the French any longer.
The fortifications of the Serail resisted all the efforts of the rebels. Scherirah remained in his quarters, with his troops under arms, and recalled the small force that he had originally sent out as much to watch the course of events as to assist Abidan.
Of course, he knew perfectly that much controversy had raged round the question, and that one or two learned scientists had definitely stated their belief that the ruins were of comparatively recent date, and deduced more or less convincing proofs in support of their theory; but controversies and carefully worded reports were small things to the man who had dwelt beside the mysterious temples and fortifications, and learnt to love and treasure them.
A breach, forty feet wide, was made in this last stronghold of the old defences, and the soldiers leaped into the crater almost before it had ceased to blaze, expecting by one decisive storm to make themselves masters at last of all the fortifications, and therefore of the town itself.
Some of the vessels were laden with provisions, others with gabions, hurdles, branches, sacks of sand and of wool, and with other materials for the rapid throwing up of fortifications. It was two o'clock, half an hour before the chill dawn of a May morning, Sunday, the 26th of the month. The pale sight of a waning moon was faintly perceptible in the sky.
The crowd still huddled shivering on the bridge, a sombre pitiful congregation, peering out into the night for the signals of the Army of the Loire: and their hearts beat time to the pounding of the guns, their eyes lighted with each flash from the bastions, and hope rose with the drifting rockets. A black cloud hung over the fortifications.
A few well-directed shots from the big guns of the Cumberland, and the fort was silenced. Then, instead of coming to anchor, the cruisers steamed slowly up the river. Rounding a bend in the stream, Duala could be seen in the distance; likewise the forts guarding the town, and a bombardment of the fortifications was at once begun.
Morga next sketches the condition at that time of Spanish colonies in the islands. He describes the city of Manila in detail, with its fortifications, arsenals, government and municipal buildings, cathedral, and convents; also the seminary of Santa Potenciana, and the hospitals.
The most up-to-date and sensitive instruments connected with this science are there in duplicates and the highest experts such as only Germany can produce are in charge of the department. When I was at Helgoland I noticed a vast difference in the strength of the fortifications compared to what they had been.
M. Decauville proposed to them to transport their boats without taking them to pieces, or unloading them, by placing them on two pivot trollies, in the same manner as the guns are transported in fortifications and in the field. The first experiments were made at Petit-Bourg with a pleasure yacht.
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