Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/204

162 the expense of its erection: his arms, with those of Zacosta, and of the Order, are still to be seen on the outer wall next the sea. In the first siege of Rhodes the Turks made several furious assaults on this fort, bombarding it from the church of St. Antonio, and attempting to storm it by thromng a bridge of boats across the harbour of Mandraki. They were repulsed with great slaughter by D'Aubusson. Within this fort are casemates, magazines, and the remains of a chapel; above these is a platform, on which are many brass guns of the time of the Knights, some of which bear the date 1482, others 1507, with the arms of France and England. This part of the fort seems much in the state in which the Knights left it.

From the time of the Grand Master Zacosta the defence of the fortifications was so arranged that each langue had its appointed post. The distribution of these posts was as follows: The German knights defended all the part between the west side of the Grand Master's palace and the gate of St. George. The langue d'Auvergne was posted from the gate of St. George to the Spanish tower; the English from the Spanish tower to the tower of St. Mary, of which they defended the lower story. In the upper story of this tower, and thence as far as the gate of St. John, was the post of Arragon. This gate, with the outwork in front of it, and the waU as far as the Italian tower, were defended by the Provencal knights: thence, as far as the gate of St. Catharine, were posted the Italians.

The sea-wall from the gate of St. Catharine to the Porta del Castello was defended by Castile