120 
C. R. Wilson — Topograplnj °f oid Fort William. 
[No. 2, 
As regards the north side of the fort, I have not much to add to 
The Writers’ Build- w l' a ^ Mr. Bayne discovered in 1883. 1 have, 
ings on the north side however, verified by excavation the position 
ofthefoit. of the range of rooms which divided the fort 
into two, and which, I believe, to have been the 1 Writers’ Buildings ’ 
in the old fort. The south wall of these buildings, JG, is about 60 ft. 
distant from W, the north-west corner of the Governor’s House. At 
J, 99 ft. from the west curtain wall, there is a passage through the 
block of buildings 15 ft. wide. The wall JG is 3 ft. 2 in. broad, 18 north 
of it, and parallel to it, at a distance of 19 ft. internal measurement, is a 
wall J 1 j a . I also found a cross wally a j s to the west of J J 1 and distant 
from it 24 ft. internally. These cross walls J J lt andy 2 j s , are 2 ft. 1 in. 
thick, J 1 j% is 2 ft. thick. East of the passage we have no continuous 
wall corresponding with JG, but we find instead the bases of a row 
of columns YZ. These bases are 11 ft. apart from centre to centre, 
and measure about 3 ft. by 2 ft. each. At a distance of 9 ft. internally 
from the row of columns and parallel to it, is an inner wall Y^Z X , 2 ft. 
thick. The wall T Tj is 2 ft. 8 in. thick. I have not thought it 
necessary to trace out the walls YZ, Y^Z^, along their whole length. I 
have merely exposed Z lt the termination of the wall Y 1 Z 1 , where it 
meets the wall Z 1 Z. The south face of the wall Y l Z 1 is here 22 ft. 
6 in. distant from tlio wall of the present Custom House. Z x is also about 
190 ft. from the centre of the east gate of the fort, and 30 ft. from the 
east curtain wall by internal measurement. The whole length of wall 
Y 1 Z l internally is 174 ft. 6 in. The breadth of Y 1 Z 1 and Z is 2 ft. 
All these walls are of poor construction. The buildings here were, 
in fact, low, one-storied structures, as is evident from the old views 
of the fort. This also agrees with the supposition that they were 
inhabited by the writers, for we gather from the records 19 that their 
lodgings were very damp and unhealthy. 
As regards the west curtain I have little to say. Its alignment 
was determined by Mr. Bayne. I have verified 
it by excavation at three different spots X lt X it 
X 3 . At X 1 near the south-west bastion of the fort, the curtain wall is 
unusually thick and measures 6 ft. This is probably due to the same 
cause which led to the strengthening of the south curtain wall in this 
direction. 
The west curtain. 
18 I have not been able to trace this wall westwards from J for more than about 
40 ft. At this point the remains bocamo vory confusing. I conld only find a small 
wall 1 ft. 10 in. broad which met the thicker 3 ft. 2 in. wall on its northern face, 
and which I traced westwards up to the west curtain. 
19 See a letter from the Court of Directors, February 11th, 1756, para. 60, in 
Long’s Selections. 
