5]

[Footnote 135: The wall is built of coral rock, and part of it,
according to Sir Geo. Staunton's account, of lava of a dark-blue colour,
and firm hard texture. It has twenty two bastions mounted with
artillery, and is surrounded by a broad moat, generally well filled with
water. There are five gates to the city; two on the south, the New Gate,
and the Diast Gate; one on the north, the Square Gate; Rotterdam Gate on
the east; and the Utrecht Gate on the west--E.]

In the north-east corner of the town stands the castle or citadel, the
walls of which are both higher and thicker than those of the town,
especially near the landing-place, where there is depth of water only
for boats, which it completely commands, with several large guns, that
make a very good appearance.

Within this castle are apartments for the governor-general, and all the
council of India, to which they are enjoined to repair in case of a
siege. Here are also large storehouses where great quantities of the
Company's goods are kept, especially those that are brought from Europe,
and where almost all their writers transact their business. In this
place also are laid up a great number of cannon, whether to mount upon
the walls or furnish shipping, we could not learn; and the Company is
said to be well supplied with powder, which is dispersed in various
magazines, that if some should be destroyed by lightning, which in this
place is very frequent, the rest may escape.[136]

[Footnote 136: The castle is a square fortress, having four bastions
connected by curtains, surrounded by a ditch. The walls are about
twenty-four feet high, and built also of coral rock. Besides the houses,
&c. mentioned in the text and near to what is called the Iron Magazine,
is the grass plot where criminals are executed: It is a square space,
artificially elevated, and furnished with gallows, &c. Close adjoining,
and fronting it, is a small building where the magistrates, according to
the Dutch custom, attend during the execution.--E.]

Besides the fortifications of the town, numerous forts are dispersed
about the country to the distance of twenty or thirty miles; these seem
to have been intended merely to keep the natives in awe, and indeed
they are fit for nothing else. For the same purpose a kind of houses,
each of which mounts about eight guns, are placed in such situations as
command the navigation of three or four canals, and consequently the
roads upon their banks: Som