[Sketch of camp with fortifications].

A square is better than a round for the projecting enclosures, as it allows more men to use their guns at the same time on the same point; but it is so convenient to make the walls of the enclosure serve as sidings for the tents, that it is perhaps best to allow the size and shape of the tent to determine those of the enclosures.  A square of nine or ten feet, inside measurement, is amply sufficient for three guns or archers.  The parapets can be built of large stones.  A travelling party rarely carries spades, but when they have them, the parapet may be formed of the earth thrown up by digging a trench outside it; the common calculation is, that, with good tools, a labourer can dig one cubic yard of earth an hour, and can continue working for eight hours in the day.  The parapet should be raised four feet above the ground, as that is the most convenient height to fire from when standing; and it is high enough to shield a person kneeling down to load.  Upon this parapet, large stones should be laid, having loop-holes between them, and above the stones the tent may be pitched; its pole being lengthened by lashing apiece of wood to it, or by cutting a fresh pole altogether.  It will make a high roof to the enclosure, and will complete a comfortable abode.  We have thus a square enclosed camp for the cattle, the wagons, and the natives of the party; and, at opposite corners of it, two fortified houses:  one of which would naturally be inhabited by the leaders of the party; and the other, either by the storekeeper, or by the white servants generally

Trous de Loup are holes, with sharp stake driven in the bottom of each of them (see “Pitfalls,” p. 264) with the pointed end upwards.  The South Sea Islanders use them in multitudes to prevent the possibility of an enemy’s approach at night, otherwise than along the narrow paths that lead to their villages:  if a man deviates from a path, he is sure to stumble into one of these contrivances, and to be lamed.  The holes need not exceed one foot in diameter; and the stake may be a stick no thicker than the little finger, and yet it will suffice to maim an ill-shod man, if its point be baked hard.  A traveller could only use these pitfalls where, from the circumstances of the case, there was no risk of his own men, cattle, or dogs falling into them.

Weapons, to resist an Attack.—­Unless your ammunition is so kept as to be accessible in the confusion of an attack, the fortifications I have just described would be of little service.  If the guns are all, or nearly all, of the same bore, it is simple enough to have small bags filled with cartridges, and also papers with a dozen caps in each.  Buck-shot and slugs are better than bullets, for the purposes of which we are speaking.  Bows and arrows might render good service.  The Chinese, in their junks, when they expect a piratical attack, bring up baskets filled with stones from the ballast of the ship, and