Page:A revised and enlarged account of the Bobbili zemindari.djvu/56

Rh alarm, the whole passage is choked up with trees, and the outside surrounded to some distance with a thick bed of strong brambles. The rampart and parapet is covered by a shed of strong thatch supported by posts; the eaves of this shed project over the battlements, but fall so near that a man can scarcely squeeze his body between. This shed is shelter both to the rampart and guards against the sun and rain. An area of 500 yards, or more, in every direction round the fort, is preserved clear, of which the circumference joins the high wood, which is kept thick, three, four, or five miles in breadth around this centre. Few of these forts permit more than one path through the wood. The entrance of the path from without is defended by a wall, exactly similar in construction and strength to one of the sides of the fort, having its round towers at the ends, and the square projection with its gateway in the middle. From natural sagacity they never raise this redoubt on the