Heppah; they consented with joy in their countenances,
and immediately led the way. It is called Wharretouwa, and is situated
upon a high promontory or point, which projects into the sea, on the
north side, and near the head of the bay: Two sides of it are washed by
the sea, and these are altogether inaccessible; two other sides are to
the land: Up one of them, which is very steep, lies the avenue from the
beach; the other is flat and open to the country upon the hill, which is
a narrow ridge: The whole is enclosed by a pallisade about ten feet
high, consisting of strong pales bound together with withes. The weak
side next the land is also defended by a double ditch, the innermost of
which has a bank and an additional pallisade; the inner pallisades are
upon the bank next the town, but at such a distance from the top of the
bank as to leave room for men to walk and use their arms, between them
and the inner ditch: The outermost pallisades are between the two
ditches, and driven obliquely into the ground, so that their upper ends
incline over the inner ditch: The depth of this ditch, from the bottom
to the top or crown of the bank, is four-and-twenty feet. Close within
the innermost pallisade is a stage, twenty feet high, forty feet long,
and six broad; it is supported by strong posts, and is intended as a
station for those who defend the place, from which they may annoy the
assailants by darts and stones, heaps of which lay ready for use.
Another stage of the same kind commands the steep avenue from the beach,
and stands also within the pallisade; on this side of the hill there are
some little outworks and huts, not intended as advanced posts, but as
the habitations of people who for want of room could not be accommodated
within the works, but who were, notwithstanding, desirous of placing
themselves under their protection. The pallisades, as has been observed
already, ran round the whole brow of the hill, as well towards the sea
as towards the land; but the ground within having originally been a
mount, they have reduced it not to one level, but to several, rising in
stages one above the other, like an amphitheatre, each of which is
inclosed within its separate pallisade; they communicate with each other
by narrow lanes, which might easily be stopt up, so that if an enemy
should force the outward pallisade, he would have others to carry before
the place could be wholly reduced, supposing these places to be
obstinately de