The beams when fixed projected eight feet above the ground, the spaces between being filled with bamboos twisted in and out between them.

Earth was thrown up behind to the height of four foot for the defenders to stand upon.

The space between the stockade and the wall was filled with sharp pointed bamboos and stakes stuck firmly in the ground with their points projecting outwards.

All day the townspeople labored at these defenses, while the wall crumbled fast under the fire of the Dahomey artillery, every shot of which, at so short a distance, struck it heavily.

By five in the afternoon a great gap, fifty feet wide, was made in the walls, and the army of Dahomey again gathered for the assault.