The National Intelligencer And Washington Advertiser

Extract of a letter received from an American gentleman at Gibraltar.

MOORISH CASTLE.--June 30.

I obtained permission to examine the remains of the Moorish Castle. Its ruinous state prevents your ascertaining anything of the different apartments. Part of the stair-case is still remaining : it is spiral of stone, and appears to have been very ingeniously cut and ornamented. The terrace or roof of the building is of handsome white stone ; and gives a distinct and extensive view of great part of the province of Andalusia. Its height is about ninety feet, breadth sixty. I visited this, otherwise uninteresting, spot, from an opinion of its having given rise to, or aided, in a particular manner, the writers of the novel and opera of Blue Beard :-and although I have not found the blue chamber, yet I have discovered some foundation for the suspicion. The time this Castle was built is not correctly known ; but it is reported to have been the work of the Blue Abomelique, son of the Emperor of Fez, who besieged Gibraltar in 1333, which place surrendered in five months ; and that his descendants kept quiet possession of it until 1410. He had a wife, or favorite, by the name of Fatima. His death was sudden--the manner not recounted. His character is represented as cruel and brutal. The scenery is accurately represented on the New-York stage. The zig zag roads cut through the rock, and the terrace from which Fatima's father looks for aid, are also correct. The cloud of dust first discovered may have come from the sand banks near St. Roque-the names have also some right to their corroborating the suspicion.

I give this to you talis qualis. Drinkwater and James' History of Gibraltar has aided me.

There is a singular Moorish building near the Spanish lines, which boasts of antiquity, but its use I cannot divine ; it is called the Devil's Tower, and is about 40 feet high. There is but one entrance, viz. at the top. It might have been considered, in early days, a fortress of some strength, and possibly, the sole defence of Gibraltar from the inhabitants of Spain. Its strength will not readily yield to time.

As I am with the Moors. I cannot pass over the wall, which is considered as one of the curiosities only as it respects its great strength. It is related, but I cannot give you the authority, that this was the work of the Moors who were held in captivity by the Spaniards, upon a sacred promise, that when completed, they should have their liberty ; but, the work ended, every surviving Moor was inhumanly massacred.