To
jam a pole tightly in its place, wedges of wood should be driven in at
its side, and earth rammed down between the wedges.
Palisades are excellent as walls or as enclosures. They are erected of
vast lengths, by savages wholly destitute of tools, both for the purposes
of fortification and also for completing lines of pitfalls across wide
valleys. the pitfalls occupy gaps left in the palisading. The savages
burn down the trees in the following manner:--a party of men go to the
forest, and light small fires round the roots of the trees they propose
to fell. the fires are prevented from flaming upwards by the judicious
application of leaves, etc. When the fire has eaten a little way into the
tree, the man who watches it scrapes the fire aside and knocks away the
charred wood, exposing a fresh surface for fire to act upon, and then
replaces the burning embers. A single man may easily attend to a dozen
trees, and, indeed, to many more, if the night be calm. Some hours elapse
before the trees actually fall. Their tops and branches are burnt off as
they lie on the ground. The poles being thus procured for the palisading,
they are carried to the required place, where holes are dug for their
reception, on the principle described in "Wells," to which I have just
alluded.
Straw or Reed Walls of the following kind are very effective, and they
have the advantage of requiring a minimum of string (or substitute for
string) in their manufacture.
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