224 FROM GALEHDAR TO BUSHIRE [Chap. VIII
Thence it continues with a marked bend another 100 feet to the brink of the precipitous ravine on the north-east. On a level of about 300 feet above that of the gate in the southern defences the top of the spur contracts to a width of some 250 feet, and is here closed by another double wall. Thus between these two defensive lines a protected area, on a rather steep incline, is secured which might afford safety to a considerable number of people in case of emergency.
The southern line of wall is approached from an old cemetery behind Haraj village by a very steep track leading over bare limestone rock. Where this track entered the defences, the double line of wall is broken for a distance of about 80 feet; but to the west of this it is clearly traceable, as shown by Fig. 85, for some 329 feet up to the brink of the precipice. Above this a tower, now completely ruined, appears to have once stood. On the outside the wall was strengthened by small semicircular bastions or buttresses having a radius of a little more than 5 feet, and built at distances varying between 55 and 75 feet from each other. The bastions, like the wall curtains, are solidly built with rough stone blocks set in earth. Behind the outer wall there runs parallel to it at an average distance of 7 feet 3 inches an inner wall, 2 feet 6 inches thick, like the outer wall and built in the same fashion. This inner wall is nowhere more than 6 feet high now, while the outer one still rises in places to a maximum of 10 feet. The inner wall, at intervals varying from 20 to 27 feet, had doors about 3 feet wide with large stone lintels. These openings clearly showed that the space between the two lines of walls was meant to afford shelter. As this space is but little encumbered by fallen stones, it appears likely to have been roofed with timber and earth at approximately a man's height, the additional height of the outer wall having been intended as a parapet for the defenders.
From the break already referred to as marking the entrance to the fortified area, the double line of wall, similarly constructed with bastions at intervals of from 48 to 73 feet, turns to the north-east, but owing to the steepness of the slope it is there less well preserved. Beyond a stretch of about 100 feet where the line has almost completely broken down, it ascends the rocky slope to the north-north-east, and after another 100 feet ends some 25 feet from the edge of precipitous cliffs. Within the defensive line and near the entrance a hollow closed by a barrage of poor, perhaps later, construction marks what obviously was meant for a tank to catch the drainage and assure a supply of water.
The upper and shorter line of wall which stretches across the spur, as already stated, at an elevation some 300 feet higher than the entrance has no bastions, but otherwise it is of closely corresponding construction. Here, too, a broken portion about 35 feet long marks the former position of a gate. Projecting wall sections along either side of this may mark ramps meant to facilitate access to
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