112 



Architectural Remains. [No. 11, new series. 



the winding entrance on the south side has portals of the large 

 granite slabs and pillars, which appear immoveable by age. The 

 Fort is an ordinary trace, with round towers at the four angles, 

 and a deep wet ditch : the counterscrap not being revetted, except 

 by loose rough stone a few feet above the water level, for the sup- 

 port of the high embankment above. There are the remains of 

 masonry batteries erected above the old round towers, and at the 

 south-east angle, a raised ravelin was thrown out evidently by 

 European hands : these modern additions are, however, some de- 

 stroyed and others rent from top to bottom, and will soon fall off 

 into the ditch. The contrast is striking between these temporary 

 defences, and the massive old walls in which the stones rest now, 

 as they were laid without mortar, and showing no signs of dis- 

 placement. 



From William Fraser, Esq., District Engineer, Coimbatore, to 

 Lieutenant Colonel E. Lawtord, Deputy Chief Engineer, South- 

 ern Circle, dated 21st December 1859, No. 224. 



I have the honor to forward my memorandum on the Antiquities 

 of the Coimbatore District. 



2. I have delayed writing this memorandum, because, Indian 

 Antiquities is a subject with which I am not acquainted — and I do 

 not like to write about what I don't understand. 



3. In saying this, I do not mean to imply that it is a subject 

 in which we should not be interested ; because, apart from the 

 fact of being ordered to do so, I believe that every Engineer should 

 make himself acquainted with every thing connected with the 

 District in which he works ; but, it is a subject requiring a good 

 deal of thought and careful examinatian and comparison of the 

 objects of antiquity themselves, and you are aware that since I 

 took charge of the District, I have not had time, even if I had had 

 the leisure, to accomplish this. 



memorandum on the interesting memorials of antiquity 

 in THE coimbatore district. 

 The Memorials of Antiquity in the Coimbatore District, although 



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