Several Mangaboos came forward with glass spades and dug a hole in the ground.
The trench should be opened to about two spades' depth, and any coarse roots which may extend thus far from the trunk may be cut clean off with a sharp knife.
Anson, the commander-in-chief, died of cholera before he had had a chance to act on Lawrence's telegram, "Clubs, not spades, are trumps."
Most strapped spades, forks and shovels have hafts with curved points.
Equating Vietnam with the war against al Qaeda takes remarkable chutzpah, but the Republicans have it in spades.