178 TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA: 
and oilicers, has been erected on the main 
land, around which about four acres or more 
of ground have been reserved for his Majesty’s 
use, in case the fort should not be built on 
the island. 
A Block-House, which I have so frequently 
mentioned, is a building, whose walls are 
formed of thick square pieces of timber. It 
is usually built two stories high, in which 
case the upper story is made to project about 
two or three feet beyond the walls of the 
lower one, and loop holes are left in the door 
round the edge of it, so that if an attempt 
were made to storm the house, the garrison 
could fire directly down upon the heads of 
the assailants. Loop holes are left also in 
various parts of the walls, some of which are 
formed, as is the case at this new block-house 
at Malden, of a size sufficient to admit a small 
cannon to be fired through them. The loop 
holes are furnished with large wooden stop¬ 
pers or Wedges, which in the winter season, 
when there is no danger of an attack, are put 
in, and the interstices closely caulked, to guard 
against the cold; and, indeed, to render the 
house warm, they are ©b T ig;ed to take no small 
pains in caulking the seams between the tim¬ 
ber in every part. A block-house, built on 
the most approved plan, is so constructed, that 
if one half of it were shot away, the other 
half would stand firm. Each piece of tim- 
