Fascine n. (Fort. & Engin.) A cylindrical bundle of small sticks of wood, bound together, used in raising batteries, filling ditches, strengthening ramparts, and making parapets; also in revetments for river banks, and in mats for dams, jetties, etc.
... the west, but not so violently as to prevent our going on. At two miles from our encampment we passed a curious collection of bushes about thirty feet high and ten or twelve in diameter, tied in the form of a fascine and standing on end in the middle of the low ground: this too we supposed to have been left by the Indians as a religious sacrifice: at twelve o'clock the usual hour we halted for dinner. The low grounds on the river are much wider than common, ... — History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, Vol. I. • Meriwether Lewis and William Clark