I Explained The Necessity Of Storing The Gunpowder In A Fireproof
Building.
Only a few days ago several native huts had been burnt; such
an accident might endanger our station, therefore I should construct an
earthen roof over a building of strong palisades.
I explained that
should the whole of the ammunition explode, it might ignite and destroy
Masindi.
My men thoroughly understood their work. Immense logs, nine feet in
length, and many upwards of two feet in diameter, were planted, close
together, in holes two feet deep. Any interstices were filled up with
smaller posts sunk firmly in the ground. The entrance to the little fort
was a projecting passage, about twelve feet long, and only three feet
wide, formed of two rows of enormous palisades, sunk two feet six inches
in the earth, which was pounded closely down with heavy rammers. This
passage was an important feature in the power of defence, as it added to
the flanking fire. A reference to the plan will show that the
arrangement of this small fort gave us three fireproof rooms for the
protection of stores and ammunition, and for the accommodation of the
necessary guard. Each of these rooms was formed of the strongest
palisades, upon which I arranged a flat roof of thick posts, laid
parallel, which were covered with tempered earth and chopped straw for
the thickness of a foot.
The earth from the ditch would lie against the outside face of the
stockade, at an angle of about 40 degrees from the edge of the ditch to
within eighteen inches of the projecting roof:
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