Four barracks were built at a. Cavaliers arose on the
bastions, and the covered ways, with their places d'armes,
were furnished with traverses. In the event of this work
being taken, the main body of the fortress could still
hold out some days.
Fig. 67 gives the sections of these works, which were
cased with masonry, presenting a strong defence which
only a regular siege could affect.
But it is desirable to point out the reasons that deter-
mined the plan of this work, and the method adopted by
the illustrious engineer.
Vauban fortified according to the nature of the position,
and was not one of those esfirits routiniers who, when once
a certain system has made good its claims, insist on apply-
ing it on all occasions.
The fortresses, which, like that of I.a Roche-Pont, are
situated at the extremity of a promontory and present
only a narrow front to the besieger, assuredly give certain
advantages to the defence, since they have scarcely to fear
more than one attack and are accessible only on one side ;
but this position is not without its drawbacks, especially
if, as in the present instance, a fan-shaped plateau spreads
outside the fortress ; for then the besiegers sweep the
defences with converging fires, to which the besieged can
oppose only a narrow front unprovided with considerable



LA ROCHE-FOISIT IS FORTIFIED.
309



flankments. On the east side the large bastion, in the
middle of which Vauban had left standing the fifteenth-
century tower, which thus gave him a good revetted




l ' . ' "i"" i 1 1 1-



,f'



Fig. 67.
