122 NATURE OF FORTIFICATIONS 
A Pa, or native fortification, is a place in which 
the natives of single tribes, or of various tribes, 
when living near each other and on friendly 
terms, assemble in times of war, and secure 
themselves, their wives, their children, and their 
slaves, from the attacks of the enemy. The site 
is generally chosen by the side of a river, or on 
the top of a high table-hill ; from whence water 
may be obtained without much difficulty, or with- 
out danger of annoyance from without. Some of 
these fortifications have cost immense labour, and 
are remarkably strong ; having a double fence on 
each assailable side, of such dimensions, and put 
together with so much care, as to render them im- 
pregnable to an enemy armed only with muskets, 
provided the besieged have a sufficient supply of 
the same instruments of warfare. The inner 
fence is from twenty to thirty feet in height, 
formed of large poles and stakes tightly knotted 
or woven together with torotoro, the fibrous roots 
of a plant which abounds in the woods ; or rather 
a creeper, climbing to the tops of the highest 
trees, and having every appearance, when cut 
down, of a root just taken out of the ground. 
About every six feet, an image of the most 
frightful description, and carved with much art, 
is placed, with a 'patu, a native weapon, in his 
hand, in a threatening posture, grinning at the 
enemy, to scare him away. At a distance of 
about sixty feet are little square projections, 
with port-holes, for resting the musket in ; from 
