linked together by a thick-set hedge of palmyras, bamboos,
prickly-pear, and thorny bushes, such that neither infantry nor
cavalry could force a way through. Later it was decreed that the
'Bound Hedge,' as it was called, should be extended so as to encircle
the whole city. The work, however, was never completed, for as late as
1785 an influential European inhabitant of Madras, addressing the
Government on the subject of the insecurity of the city, wrote:--

"Was the Bound Hedge finished, no man could desert. No Spy
could pass; provisions would be cheap. All the Garden
Houses, as well as thirty-three Square Miles of Ground,
would be in security from the invasions of irregular Horse."

Of the suburban fortifications the two largest were at Egmore and at
San Thome. Next in size were those at Nungumbaukam and at Pursewaukam.
Of smaller works there were many. Of the fortifications at
Nungumbaukam and at Pursewaukam all traces have disappeared; but of
the larger ones at San Thome and at Egmore interesting remains are
still to be seen.

[Illustration: San Thome Fort.

A PORTION OF THE EXTENSIVE RUINS IN THE GROUNDS OF 'LEITH CASTLE,' SAN
THOME]

The remains of the San Thome Redoubt stand within the grounds of
'Leith Castle,' a house that lies south of the San Thome Cathedral.
The remains are ruins, but the massive walls fifteen feet high and
three feet thick, are suggestive of the purpose for which the redoubt
was built. The 'Records' show that the San Thome Redoubt, built in
1751, was a very complete fortification, with a moat forty feet wide,
a glacis, and all the other works that are usual in respect of a well
appointed building of the kind. That it was of a large size is to be
seen in the fact that, when the French under Count Lally were
besieging Madras, an English officer was officially directed 'to stay
in St. Thome Fort with the Europeans belonging to Chingleput, four
Companies of sepoys, and fifty horse.'

The Egmore Redoubt was a good deal older than that of San Thome. It
was constructed in the days of Queen Anne. It was intended, of course,
for the special protection of Egmore; but in those distant days when
trips to the hills were unknown, even Egmore was a health-resort in
respect of the crowded Fort St. George, and it was officially reported
that the Egmore Redoubt might 'serve for a convenience for the sick
Soldiers when arrived from England, for the recovery of their health,
it bein