abattis

• “Msuwa, a village situated in a populous district, having in its vicinity no less than five other villages, each fortified by stakes and thorny abattis, with as much fierce independence as if their petty lords were so many Percys and Douglasses.”

  How I Found Livingstone

• “As they swarm with vermin by night and flies by day23, I frequently made strong objections to these favourite localities: the utmost conceded to me was a fresh enclosure added by a smaller hedge to the outside abattis of the more populous cow-kraals.”

  First footsteps in East Africa

• “At intervals around and inside the outer abattis are built the”

  First footsteps in East Africa

• “The abattis has usually four entrances which are choked up with heaps of bushes at night.”

  First footsteps in East Africa

• “On both sides are little square plots fenced against sheep and goats by a rude abattis of stripped and dead boughs,”

  The Land of Midian

• “Washington could see that these works had stout abattis and chevaux-de-frise and that from them, probably, a good view could be had both of the plain near the town and the inner fortifications.”

  Simon & Schuster: Washington

• “From the line of the abattis came the shout of a sentinel, then the ring of his musket and, in a few seconds, the sound of a general alarm.”

  Simon & Schuster: Washington

• “The French had found the abattis strong and almost undamaged twenty-five yards in front of the redoubt.”

  Simon & Schuster: Washington

• “The defenses consisted of two rows of trenches, lying one over the other, with strong cover, and with wire entanglements and abattis in front of them.”

  New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 5, August, 1915

• “Gabions, fasces, abattis, and other appliances for assault or defence were quickly made, and all this practical schooling in the work of war went on, under the watchful cooperation of the very officers who afterward became conspicuous in the field, from Long Island to Yorktown.”

  The Bay State Monthly — Volume 1, No. 1, January, 1884

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