122 
Totun and lo» 
of timber, extended several yards into t sea, and affords a 
very commodious station for loading and iloadL\i sloops, and 
large boats, which can be brought close a. igside. At this end 
of the fort several store-houses, and barracks for half a regi- 
ment are erected. 
The ramparts of the fort are very strong, having eight prin- 
cipal bastions, including the two already described. They are 
distinguished by the names of the towns in Holland, the Ley- 
den, Amsterdam, Haarlem, &c. There are also a number of 
lesser ones, with curtains, banquets, and parapets, communicat- 
ing with each other all around the fort, and fitted for troops 
to line and defend with musquetry and field-pieces. The want 
of bomb-proof casements is the chief disadvantage of the 
place; the powder magazine is the only building constructed in 
that manner. Were the fort to be bombarded from ships on 
the south or west side, as it easily might, this want would be 
particularly felt. 
The whole fort is surrounded by a broad and deep wet ditch, 
over which draw-bridges are thrown at each of the gates. On 
the outsides are some small magazines, with a powder mill and 
a saw mill, attached to the fort. 
Adjoining to the covert way, and at the foot of the glacis, 
is a lake in some parts extending three or four miles into the 
country in a north-east direction. For near a mile on the out- 
side of the fort, the neck of land, which connects it with the 
country, is not above five or six hundred yards broad ; and 
in the middle of this space lies the lake, leaving only room 
on each side for a narrow causeway. An approach of this 
sort, and so completely commanded, would render it very dif- 
ficult for an enemy to storm. Near the glacis it may be en- 
tirely cut off, by opening the sluices and cutting the road across. 
