350 



Scientific Intelligence. 



[No. 10, NEW SE11IES. 



means has been adopted to increase the natural strength of this 

 rock by the construction of massive walls along the precipitous 

 edges and shelves, the utility of many apparently doubtful, whilst 

 the task could only have been effected by an immense sacrifice of 

 life. At the base of this hill is the inner or second Fort with walls, 

 bastions and other works quite as formidable, if not more so than 

 those forming the outer Fort. 



3. The buildings in the most perfect order are two large rectan- 

 gular granaries built of rubble stone work with brick arches, the 

 whole plastered. One is a single room 82J by 29 and 46 feet 7 

 inches in height to the crown of the arch. The other building 

 consists of a spacious entrance passage with a room on either side 

 60 by 28 and a third at the end of the passage at right angles to 

 these, 81 feet by 28, each of them 39 feet in height. The walls 

 are above 5J feet in thickness. A short flight of steps from the 

 passage leads up to the three doorways and a similar flight on the 

 inside into the rooms. There are apertures in the roof for filling 

 these granaries up to the top, after as much grain as possible had 

 been stored by means of the doors. The roof which is accessible 

 by flights of steps from the interior, is surrounded with a high parapet 

 completely loopholed. The present value of the larger building is 

 ascertained to be Rupees 5,190, and that of the smaller, of one 

 room, Rupees 3,7'" 8, and my rough estimate for repairing them 

 amounts to Rupees 500 and 200 respectively. There are two or 

 three Storehouses of this description on each of the two hills before 

 mentioned, and it is worthy of remark that the brick arched roofs 

 are in a better state of preservation on the hills also than the flat 

 stone ones. 



4. The most interesting building is a ruined Hindu Pagoda sur- 

 rounded with the usual high wall of cut stone, some very elegant and 

 elaborately carved pillars support the flat stone roof, especially 

 around the raised places to which the idols were brought upon fes- 

 tivals as well as secluded parts where they were kept. The idols, 

 and a great many of the ornamental stones capable of being removed, 

 have at some time or other been taken away, though the removal 

 must have been attended with considerable difficulty, with no road- 

 way except over the steps of the Pondicherry and Trinamallie gates. 

 The decay is chiefly owing to the growth of banyan and other large 



