வீரத் தலைவர் பூலித்தேவர்
59
Washinelore stood within three miles from the great range of mountains, at the foot of which ran a thick wood, extending two miles into the plain, and within 1300 yards of the west and south sides of the fort; but turned to a much greater distance on the north, and to the east the plain was open, and everywhere covered with profuse cultivation. A very extensive pettah, residence of some thousand inhabitants, commenced within forty yards, and extended 1200 to the N. E. of the walls: a thick thorn hedge, with barriers, surrounded both the pettah and the fort. The extent of the fort was 650 by 300 yards: it was of mud, but almost as hard as brick; it had four large square towers, one at each angle, and several smaller, which were round, between. Every tower was a separate redoubt, enclosed by a parapet, to command within as well as without the fort: the access to the tower was a steep ramp, only two feet broad, the entrance a narrow wicket in the parapet; the curtain between the towers had no parapet and was only a rampart sloping on both sides from a base of 15 feet to 3 at top; but the slope from within was much less sharp than from without, so that, if assaulted, the defenders might easily run up to the top. The parapets of the towers have circular holes for the use of small arms, but no-openings prepared for cannon of which
