A block house, which I have so frequently mentioned, is a building, whose walls are formed of thick square pieces of timber. It is usually built two stories high, in which case the upper story is made to project about two or three feet beyond the walls of the lower one, and loop holes are left in the floor round the edge of it, so that if an attempt were made to storm the house, the garrison could fire directly down upon the heads of the assailants. Loop holes are left also in various parts of the walls, some of which are formed, as is the case at this new block house at Malden, of a size sufficient to admit a small cannon to be fired through them. The loop holes are furnished with large wooden stoppers or wedges, which in the winter season, when there is no danger of an attack, are put in, and the interstices closely caulked, to guard against the cold; and indeed, to render the house warm, they are obliged to take no small pains in caulking the seams between the timber in every part. A block house, built on the most approved plan, is so constructed, that if one half of it were shot away, the other half would stand firm. Each piece of timber in the roof and walls is jointed in such a manner as to be rendered independent of the next piece to it; one wall is independent of the next wall, and the roof is in a great measure independent of all of them, so that if a piece of artillery were played upon the house, that bit of timber alone against which the ball struck would be displaced, and every other one would remain uninjured. A block house is proof against the heaviest fire of musquetry. As these houses may be erected in a very short time, and as there is such an abundance of timber in every part of the country, wherewith to build them, they are met with in North America at almost every military out-post, and indeed in almost every fortress throughout the country. There are several in the upper town of Quebec. [Sidenote: FARMS.]