regard to its Defence. 221 



TO FORTIFY A HOUSE. 



Barricade doors and windows, loophole barricades, walls and 

 partitions, and the upper floors, so as to be able to fire down 

 through them ; cut away the staircases, keeping up the com- 

 munication by ladders. Place vessels of water in each room to 

 extinguish fii'es. Remove thatched or wooden roofs adjoining 

 the house. Sink ditches opposite the doors and windows, and 

 place obstacles in front of them, give a flanking defence where it 

 is required over a window, (Plate II., fig. e), or at an angle of the 

 house. Lastly, if there is time, loop-hole the garden walls, and 

 remove any thing that may afford cover for the enemy within 

 musket range. 



(Manuscript note to R. M. College Course.) 



XIII. — On the Science of Astronomy mmngst the Ancient Jews. 

 By Mr. Phineas Moss. 



Trusting that the subject may not be thought entirely out 

 of place in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Tasmania^ 

 or altogether uninteresting to its members, I have ventured 

 to throw together a few brief notices of the Science of 

 Astronomy as known amongst the ancient Jews, taking 

 encouragement from the circumstance, that as a lineal de- 

 scendant of that people I may possess readier access to their 

 records than a stranger could have. At the same time I 

 experience some diffidence, from the feeling that the time 

 and attention of the Society might be claimed for matters 

 of higher importance and of greater practical utility. 

 The earliest notice we meet with of the stars and of the 



