ually the dead we found
there, who had been half interr'd by the country people.

The next morning our fort was plann'd and mark'd out, the
circumference measuring four hundred and fifty-five feet, which would
require as many palisades to be made of trees, one with another, of a
foot diameter each. Our axes, of which we had seventy, were
immediately set to work to cut down trees, and, our men being
dexterous in the use of them, great despatch was made. Seeing the
trees fall so fast, I had the curiosity to look at my watch when two
men began to cut at a pine; in six minutes they had it upon the
ground, and I found it of fourteen inches diameter. Each pine made
three palisades of eighteen feet long, pointed at one end. While these
were preparing, our other men dug a trench all round, of three feet
deep, in which the palisades were to be planted; and, our waggons, the
bodies being taken off, and the fore and hind wheels separated
by taking out the pin which united the two parts of the perch,[105] we
had ten carriages, with two horses each, to bring the palisades from
the woods to the spot. When they were set up, our carpenters built a
stage

[Illustration: "Our axes ... were immediately set to work to cut down
trees"]

of boards all round within, about six feet high, for the men to stand
on when to fire thro' the loopholes. We had one swivel gun, which we
mounted on one of the angles, and fir'd it as soon as fix'd, to let
the Indians know, if any were within hearing, that we had such pieces;
and thus our fort, if such a magnificent name may be given to so
miserable a stockade, was finish'd in a week, though it rain'd so hard
every other day that the men could not work.

[105] Here the pole connecting the front and rear wheels
of a wagon.

This gave me occasion to observe, that, when men are employ'd, they
are best content'd; for on the days they worked they were good-natur'd
and cheerful, and, with the consciousness of having done a good day's
work, they spent the evening jollily; but on our idle days they were
mutinous and quarrelsome, finding fault with their pork, the bread,
etc., and in continual ill-humour, which put me in mind of a
sea-captain, whose rule it was to keep his men constantly at work;
and, when his mate once told him that they had done everything, and
there was nothing further to employ them about, _"Oh," says he, "make
them scour the anchor."_

This kind of fort, however contemptible, i