period of its erection were too far off to command it. The massive blocks of stone that form the walls and bastions were dressed with such precision that in putting them together no mortar was necessary. Each stone fitted like the section of a puzzle into its place. The labour-most probably forced-must have been infinite to shape and build on such a system. Walls and bastions still stand as firmly and symmetrically as when the builders left them; not by virtue of the blood sacrifices, too probably human, that were made as the foundations were laid, but by the consummate skill of the master-mind who directed the painstaking mason. The evidence of this enormous amount of labour is striking throughout the Presidency. The stones had to be quarried and carried to the spot where the building was to be erected. The earth had to be excavated to form the moat that surrounded every fort that did not crown a hill. There were no cranes, no powerful engines to lessen the task. The toilers had nothing but primitive tools, strong ropes, and their own strength to serve them. The labour force was unrestricted by any limitations in the matter of age or hours. The full wage of an ablebodied man did not exceed fourpence a day. His wife was content with twopence, and his children earned only half that amount. The length of the day of labour was from sunrise to sunset, and the wages were paid in food at a valuation set by the employer himself.
The fort at Vellore is eloquent of the busy past. Every stone tells its tale. When finished it was reckoned the strongest building in the Carnatic. A testimony to its strength lies in the fact that it never fell to Haider Ali, although he blockaded it and cleared the country round it of food supplies. As is usual with Indian forts, there is a temple and a palace within the walls. Like that at Dindigul the shrine was desecrated by the Mohammedans,
