November onty by one very narrow and fteep path, by ■ which the*
<— -v— » inhabitants, at our approach, came down, and invited us into
unday 12. ^ pjacg. put we refufed, intending to vifit a much more
conliderable fort of the fame kind at about a mile’s diftance.
We made fome prefents however to the women, and in the-
mean time we faw the inhabitants of the town which we
were going to, coming towards us in a body, men, women,,
and children, to the number of about one hundred : when
they came near enough to be heard, they waved their hands
and called out Boramai; after which they fat down among the
bufhes near the beach: thefe ceremonies we were told were
certain iigns of their friendly difpofition. We advanced to
the place where they where fitting, and when we came up,,
made them a few prefents, and afked leave to vifit their'
Heppah; they confented with joy in their countenances, and'
immediately led the way. It is called Wharretouwa, and
is fituated upon a high promontory or point, which projects
into the fea, on the north fide, and near the head of the bay:
two fides of it are walhed by the fea, and thefe are altogether
inacceffible; two other fides are to the land: up one of them;
which is very fteep, lies the avenue from the beach; thé
other is flat and open to the country upon the hill, which is
a narrow ridge: the Whole is inclofed by a pallifade about
ten feet high, confiftiog of ftrong pales bound together with
withes. The weak fide next the land is alfo defended by a.
double ditch, the innermoft of which has a bank and an additional
pallifade; the inner pallifades are upon the "bank
next the town, but at fuch a diftance'from the top of the
bank as to leave room for men to walk and ufe their arms,
between them and the inner ditch: the outermoft pallifades.
are between the two ditches, and driven obliquely into
the ground, fo that their upper ends incline over the inner
ditch: the’ depth of this ditch, from the bottom to
9 the
the top or crown of the bank, is four and twenty feet.
Clofe within the innermoft pallifade is a ftage, twenty
feet high, forty feet long, and fix broad ; it is fupported
by ftrong pofts, and is intended as a ftation for tbofe who
defend the place, from which they may' annoy the af-
failants by darts and ftones, heaps of which lay ready for
ufe. Another ftage of the fame kind commands the fteep
avenue from the beach, and ftands alfo within the pallifade ;
©n this fide of the hill there are fome little outworks and
huts, not intended as advanced pofts, but as the habitations
of people who for want of room could not be accommodated
within the works, but who were, notwithftanding, defirous
of placing themfelves under their protection. The pallifades,
as has been obferved already, run round the whole brow of
the hill, as well towards the fea as towards the land; but
the ground within having originally been a mount, they
have- reduced it not to one level, but to feveral, riling in
ftages one above the other, like an amphitheatre, each of
which is inclofed within its feparate pallifade, they com-'
municate with each other by narrow lanes, which might
eafily be ftopt up, fo that if an enemy Ihould force the
outward pallifade, he would have others to carry before the
place could be wholly reduced, fuppofmg thefe places to be
obftinately defended one after the other. The only entrance
is by a narrow pallage, about twelve feet long, communicating
with the fteep afcent from the beach: it pafles under
one of the fighting ftages, and though we faw nothing like
a door or gateway, it may be eafily barricaded in a manner
that will make the forcing it a very dangerous and difficult,
undertaking. Upon the whole, this mult be confidered as a
place o f great ftrength, in which a fmall number o f refolute -
men may defend themfelves againft all the force which a
people with no other arms than thofe that are in ufe heie
could
*