This interweaving extended only about three feet up, and was intended first to bind the structure together, and secondly to exclude small animals which might creep in between the stakes.

The reason it was not carried all up was that it should not afford a footing to human thieves desirous of climbing over.
The smooth poles by themselves afforded no notch or foothold for a Bushman's naked foot.

They rose nine or ten feet above the willow, so that the total height of the palisade was about twelve feet, and the tops of the stakes were sharpened.

The construction of such palisades required great labour, and could be carried out only by those who could command the services of numbers of men, so that a small proprietor was impossible, unless within the walls of a town.

This particular stockade was by no means an extensive one, in comparison with the estates of more prominent nobles.
The enclosure immediately surrounding the Old House was of an irregular oval shape, perhaps a mile long, and not quite three-quarters of a mile wide, the house being situated towards the northern and higher end of the oval.