MORRO CASTLE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 149, 27 June 1898, Page 8

MORRO CASTLE.

Morro Castle, the (luardian of Havana's gateway, stands imposingly at the east entrance of the. hurboui. It is the sight all eyes feast upon at entering port, and about it clings most of the historical sentiment that three centuries of history have made for Havana. The city was founded eighteen years after Columbus visited the. island. Fortifications were almost the first thing built, and the site of El Morro was the first location among fortifications. It has been almost destroyed several times, nnd each time' of rebuilding has profited by enlargement and the betterment of its defences. El Morro is; on the point opposite the peninsula occupied by the city. It therefore commands a sweep of the sea, the mouth of the port, ».ne city and the harbour. The castle, of solid masonry, and stone parapets, looks secure against all comers. The 0'Donnell light is an imposing- cylindrical stone lower rising out of the castle "1.18 feet above the. sea. The light Ik flashed for eighteen miles seaward. Morro Castle is a resplendent, object approaching from the pea, as radiant as n rainbow and as many coloured. The storms of centuries have beaten upon it —for more than a century it lias stood aa it is—and a perpetual combat in painting has been going on all the time.