118 
C. R. Wilson — Topography of old Fort William. 
[No. 2, 
After making a careful search in every likely direction where I might 
expect to come across them, I find that the third line of these arches 
was built on the alignment of what is now the north face of the waggon 
shed in the Post Office yard. The foundations of this wall (P 3 ® 3 ) 
have been exposed. It is 2 ft. 6 in. thick and is built against another 
smaller wall 10 in. thick which is in contact with it, all along its south 
side but does not bond with it. There can be no doubt about the mean- 
ing of this. The smaller wall contained a raised terrace or platform in 
front of the arcades D 2 F 2 . This platform was at first left open, 
but was afterwards covered in by an arcade, and a thick wall was built 
against the thin wall containing the platform to support the arches 
of the new arcade. Clearly then this wall D S F S is the foundation 
wall of the third row of arches parallel to the south curtain. If this be 
so there can be no doubt about the situation of the curtain and the two 
other parallel lines of arches, of which in fact portions still remain 
standing. In the yard of the General Post Office there is an old arcade 
and arches which at its west end joins on to a very old house. This old 
house has been lately used as the store-godown of the Post Office, and 
the arches serve for a shed to keep the Post Office waggons in. The 
north side of the waggon-shed e 3 i 3 is a modern wall constructed on the 
alignment of the third arcade wall of the old fort D 3 Z? 3 ; but the two 
lines of arches e^, e a i a (of which the first e 1 i 1 forms the south face of 
the shed, and the second e 2 f 2 runs down its centre) are manifestly 
portions of the first and second lines of arches D 1 F 1 , D 2 F 2 , which ran 
parallel to the south curtain of the old fort. This agrees with the 
traditions of the spot and has been proved by my excavations. The 
arcade e 1 i 1 i 2 e 2 is a fragment. At its west end I find that four more 
of its pillars, i 3 i^ F 1 F 2 , are built into the old Post Office godown ; and 
on opening up the ground to the east of the arcade I found that the 
line of arches e 2 i 2 has a foundation wall which runs on eastward under- 
ground as e 2 e\, and that the line of arches e 1 i 1 rests on isolated brick 
piers which are also continued eastward, and one of which I was able 
to expose e'-,. 17 Moreover the arcade e 1 i 1 i 2 e t is a fragment of the old 
fort. It is built of the old thin bricks, the pillars are sunk deep below 
the present ground level. The foundation wall which carries the line 
of arches e 2 i 2 is 3 ft. 4 in. thick. The production of this wall e 2 i 2 is 
at a distance of 22 ft. 6 in. internal measurement from the wall D 3 E S 
which I have identified as the foundation wall of the third or innermost 
line of arches parallel to the south curtain. This is just the distance 
which Wells’s plan shows between the third and the second lines of these 
17 It is 3 ft. 7 in. square at the top, and 4 ft. 8 in. square at its base. 
