ALAND THE BALTIC IX 1854. 187 



separated by thick blocks of masonry, and where also 

 were the apartments apportioned to the uses of the 

 garrison. Above the upper tier was a bomb-proof 

 floor, and over it stretched the iron roof. This was 

 evidently used as a sleeping - place by the common 

 soldiers, and the windows were intended as much for 

 the purposes of ventilation as for musketry, though 

 small wall-pieces stood in some of them. Such were 

 the towers. They mounted from twenty to twenty- 

 four guns, chiefly 18- or 24-pounders. A few 32's 

 were found in them, but none of greater calibre. 

 The guns, too, were of old pattern, and their carriages 

 of rude construction. 



The principle on Avhich the towers were constructed 

 gave some advantages, but was also productive of 

 much weakness and defect. The guns could certainly 

 range in every direction, but it was not possible to 

 concentrate more than four or five, and an assailant 

 would consequently be enabled to bring his battery 

 to bear against any one point without being opposed 

 to more than a fourth of the strength of the fortress. 

 In addition to this there were the usual disadvantages 

 of casemated batteries, the want of a free passage for 

 the smoke, the consequent difficulty of keeping up a 

 rapid fire, and the murderous effect produced by a 

 shot entering through the embrasures into the con- 

 fined space of the galleries. 



The main work was on a much larger scale, and 

 rather more irregular, as its purpose was to defend the 



