THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
m 
of lesser ones, with curtains, banquets, and parapets, commu- 
nicating 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 con- 
structed 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 outside are some small magazines, with a pow- 
der 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 
outside 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, 
when the lake would be connected with the sea, and the gar- 
rison completely insulated. 
In the centre of the lake stands an island, communicating 
with a sally-port on the east face, by a narrow causeway and 
draw-bridges. It was called by the Dutch slave-island, from 
