No. 39.— 1889.] account of cbylon. 



239 



the shore is the above-mentioned " Black Fort," rising high; 

 within is the arsenal, and here live all artisans and slaves. 



Beneath the " Black Fort," and considerably lower, is the 

 " Water Bulwark,"* directly facing the space where all ships 

 must anchor. This was erected only in 1653 by the Governor 

 of the time, Jacob von Kiittenstein,t a native of Delft, and is 

 armed with six pieces, each carrying a twelve-pound shot. 

 On the inner side of this is a small port, called the " Water 

 Port," through which people can be let in and out during 

 the night. Here also are the Governor's house and the 

 main guard (always sixty to seventy men strong) ; from 

 this a kind of gallery, on posts, boarded and covered with a 

 roof, called the " Wooden Doublet,"^ is carried forty paces 

 into the harbour. 



To the right of this, on the land side, where the town is 

 surrounded by strong high walls, a deep moat is dug, 

 eighteen feet wide, and crossed by a drawbridge. Towering 

 above is seen the central bastion, § carrying nine or ten guns, 

 commanding partly the main guard and partly the landward 

 walls ; and below it, moreover, a lunette. The sea-bastion|| 

 is the last on the land side. Here the greatest number of 

 guns are placed, and here a corporal and six men have to be 

 on guard every night. This place is never called otherwise 

 than the " Crab's Hole." 



Between the sea-fort and another new work near the 

 Government store a spring of good fresh water flows out of 

 a rock, and a step away from it the sea plays up to the rocks, 

 so that you can stand with one foot in fresh water and the 

 other in salt.f 



* Dutch Watevpas. 



t Jakob van Kettenstein (Dutch ed., 1671). 



\ Dutch Houte Wambas. (See Ceylon Literary Register, vol. II.. 

 p. 340.) 



§ The Middel Punt or Moon Bastion. 

 || Or Star Bastion. 



*f Valentyn has appropriated the above description of Galle, with slight 

 modifications. (See translation in Ceylon Literary Register, vol. II., p. 333.) 

 He also gives a plan of the fort drawn in 1663, of which a facsimile will be 

 found on the opposite page. 



