The Choultry gate in the north wall, now filled in with masonry, was the chief entrance into the fort from Blacktown, although there was another called north or middle gate in the same wall. The Choultry, the original court of justice, was situated near the gate. The dwellings of the native merchants came up to the wall, from which they were separated by a space sufficiently broad to allow of the garrison being paraded there. These houses belonged chiefly to the Armenian merchants. The barracks, according to Vibart, were situated in this neighbourhood outside the fort, probably between the Choultry and middle gates. The married soldiers were allowed to
live with their wives in Blacktown, a privilege much appreciated by the men.
Along the parade which followed the north wall to the seashore the daily market was held. For the first thirty or forty years the market people brought their goods into the open space, and spread them on mats on the ground, as is still the custom in up-country towns. Towards the end of the seventeenth century the English merchants built a row of small open shops, called 'bouticas,' for the accommodation of the market people. They were on the town side of the parade and faced the fort wall, and were let out for a small sum monthly. It was the first established market possessed by Madras, the humble predecessor of the imposing Moore market of the present day.
Here Blacktown met Whitetown daily. Here Mrs. Nicks, Mrs. Yale, with other ladies of the fort, wearing quilted cotton hoods or sunbonnets, came to do their marketing, while their husbands were busy in the consultation-room or at the sea-gate. Each lady was accompanied by two or three slaves, happy chattering creatures, on whom the bonds of slavery sat very lightly. If their conduct was satisfactory, the mistress
