gh which
Supplies come in Canoes from the other Side of the Lake to the Town: As
for the City itself, Nature has fortified that against any Attempt by
Sea, the Water shoaling near a League off, and the Shore being
plentifully bounded with Rocks; besides, the Sea is very seldom smooth,
so that it is difficult at all Times landing. However, as the Enemy
knew the Bravery of those they had to deal with, they began to wall
this Side of the Town, and make a Ravelin in the Middle, there being
already a strong Bastion at each End. _Bocca Grande_ being the next
Place the Enemy suspected an Attempt might be designed, had posted two
of their Men of War, the _Conquestodore_ of sixty six Guns, and the
_Dragon_ of sixty to guard it, and began two Fascine Batteries, one on
each Point of the Entrance. This Passage, called _Bocca Grande_, was
formerly the principal Entrance into the Harbour, but by Storms, and
the Force of the Sea, a Bank was thrown up, which quite closed the
Entrance, and then it was called _Bocca Serrada_; but as strange
Revolutions are frequent in these Countries, within these few Years
this Passage has broke out again, and there is now nine or ten Foot
Water in it. About three Miles below this, on the Island of _Terra
Bomba_, was a small Fort of four Guns, called _Battery de Chamba_; and
half a Mile further, a Fascine Battery of twelve Guns, (both of these
the Enemy had abandoned.) The next Places of Defence were the Forts of
_St. Philip_ and _St. Jago_, one of seven Guns, the other of fifteen,
which served as Redoubts to the Castle of _Boccachica_. One of these
Forts was built on the Rock _Ponti_ landed on, and probably to prevent
any one's landing there again, (especially so easily as he did.) The
Castle of _Boccachica_ was the Enemy's chief Dependance, as it guarded
the Entrance into the Harbour. It is a regular Square, with four
Bastions well built, and was capable of making a stout Defence if well
garisoned, and would have been much stronger had the Glacis and
Counterscarp been finished. There was mounted in it eighty two Guns,
and three Mortars, and the Enemy had cleared three or four hundred
Yards of the Woods round it, to prevent Approaches being made
undiscovered, (as _Ponti_ did in 1697.) On the other Side the Harbour's
Mouth was a Fascine Battery of fifteen Guns, called the _Barradera_;
and in a small Bay a back of that, another Battery of four Guns; and
facing the Entrance of the Harbour, on a small flat