Sentence:  Precisely in the middle of the quadrangle were placed perpendicularly in the ground, a hundred or more slender, fresh-cut poles, stripped of their bark, and decorated at the end with a floating <WSD>pennon</WSD> of white tappa; 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A thin, often triangular flag or streamer, especially as hung from the end of a lance or spear.<ref>(John Cowell), "The Interpreter: or Booke containing the signification of words wherein is set foorth the true meaning of all," Cambridge: John Legate, 1607: “"Penon," (...) is a Standard, Banner, or Ensigne, caried in warre.”[http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A19476.0001.001]</ref>