105 
1883.] It. It. Bayne— Notes on the remains of Old Fort William. 
mint was always so busy as to issue rupees monthly for a series of years 
Many mints of Akbar’s are as yet unrepresented in my cabinet. My means 
are small: my opportunities few. I cannot afford to purchase all I see. 
Those I have given will, however, convince my co-workers in numismatics 
that the coinage of Akbar offers a field worthy of being searched in. The 
results give us variety in inscriptions, in mints and in execution. 
The weights are given to each rupee, the figures underneath the bar 
indicating the No. of grains in each case. 
Notes on the remains of portions of Old Fort William discovered during the 
erection of the Fast Indian Railway Company's Offices.—By It. lios- 
kell Bayne. 
I presume that I may take it for granted that most of my readers know 
from “ Orrne’s History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation 
in Indostan” published in 1778, something of the locality and the form 
of the first Fort William. To those who do not, Vol. II, Book VI, headed 
11 the war in Bengal”, of the above work will give a very good general idea of 
it, and the Map of “ Calcutta in 1756” contains much interesting informa¬ 
tion that has been of considerable use and guidance to me. In p. 62, from 
Orme’s account of Old Fort William we read as follows : 
“ The fort of Calcutta, called Fort William, was situated near the river, 
and nearly half way between the northern and southern extremities of the 
Company’s territory. Its sides to the east and west extended 210 yards ; 
the southern side 130, and the northern 100 : it had four bastions, mount¬ 
ing each 10 guns: the curtains were only four feet thick, and, like the 
factory of Cossimbazar, terraces, which were the roofs of chambers, formed 
the top of the ramparts; and windows belonging to these chambers were 
in several places opened in the curtains : the gateway on the eastern side 
projected, and mounted five guns, three in front, and one on each flank 
towards the bastions : under the western face and on the brink of the river, 
was a line of heavy cannon, mounted in embrasures of solid masonry; and 
this work was joined to the two western bastions by two slender walls, in 
each of which was a gate of palisadoes. In the year 1747 warehouses had 
been built contiguous to the southern curtain, and projecting on the out¬ 
side, between the two bastions, rendered them useless to one another; 
however, the terraces of these warehouses were strong enough to bear the 
firing of three-pounders which were mounted in barbette over a slight 
parapet.” 
