294 TRAVELS THROUGH NORTH AMERICA : 
locks., reading a book, totally regardless of 
every person in the room. 
The old fort and barracks of Ticonderoga 
are on the top of a rising ground, just behind 
the tavern ; they are quite in ruins, and it is not 
likely that they will ever be rebuilt, for the 
situation is very insecure, being commanded 
by a lofty hill called Mount Defiance. The 
British got possession of the place the last war 
by dragging camion and mortars up the hill, 
and firing down upon the fort. 
Early the next morning we left Ticon- 
deroga, and pursued our voyage to Crown 
Point, where we landed, to look at the old fort. 
Nothing is to be seen there, however, but a 
heap of ruins ; for shortly before it was given 
up by the British, the powder magazine blew 
up, by which accident a great part of the works 
was destroyed; since the evacuation of it also, 
the people in the neighbourhood have been 
continually digging in different parts, in hopes 
of procuring lead and iron shot; a consider¬ 
able quantity was in one instance got out of the 
stores that had been buried by the explosion. 
The vaults, which were bomb-proof, have 
been demolished for the sake of the bricks for 
building chimneys. At the south side alone 
the ditches remain perfect; they are wide and 
deep, and cut through immense rocks of lime¬ 
stone ; and from being overgrown towards the 
