66 
Town and Harbour 
which affords at all seasons and in every variety of weather 
a secure shelter to ships of all descriptions, being land-locked 
on all sides, and sufficiently deep and capacious to receive the 
largest vessel, or any number of vessels. This harbour is also 
overlooked by Fort Ostenburg, a strong fort standing on a cliff, 
which projects into the sea; it was originally built by the Por- 
tuguese out of the ruins of some celebrated pagodas which 
once stood here. This fort cannot be attacked by sea, unless 
the fort of Trincomalee be first taken, and the entrance of 
the harbour forced. In the bay the shores are so bold, and 
the water so deep close up to them, that it is almost possible 
to step from the rocks into the vessels that moor alongside 
of them. At the extremity of the rock, on which the fort 
stands, a strong battery is erected, where the flag-staff' of the 
fort is placed. 
Tills harbour, from its nature and situation, is that which 
stamps Ceylon one of our most valuable acquisitions in the 
East Indies. As soon as the violent monsoons commence, 
every vessel which is caught by them in any other part of the 
bay of Bengal is obliged immediately to put to sea, to prevent 
inevitable destruction. At these seasons Trincomalee and Bom- 
bay alone, of all the ports on the different coasts of the penin- 
sula of India, are capable of affording a safe retreat. The 
incalculable advantages to be derived from such a harbour 
are increased by its proximity and easy access to our settle- 
ments in the bay of Bengal. A vessel from Madras may arrive 
here in two days, and can at any time enter the harbour. 
These circumstances print out Trincomalee as an object of 
particular attention to our government, and of far more con- 
sequence to retain than the whole df the rest of the island. 
