GR translation: lined beyond the thorn fences

[Monte Davis]

Standing in line; fences are made from/grown from thorn bushes because wood
is rare

 

From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf
Of Mike Jing
Sent: Tuesday, May 21, 2013 2:54 AM
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Subject: GR translation: lined beyond the thorn fences

 

P322.17-26   Some of the more rational men of medicine attributed the Herero
birth decline to a deficiency of Vitamin E in the diet-others to poor
chances of fertilization given the peculiarly long and narrow uterus of the
Herero female. But underneath all this reasonable talk, this scientific
speculating, no white Afrikaner could quite put down the way it felt. . . .
Something sinister was moving out in the veld: he was beginning to look at
their faces, especially those of the women, lined beyond the thorn fences,
and he knew beyond logical proof: there was a tribal mind at work out here,
and it had chosen to commit suicide. . . . Puzzling.

What does "lined beyond the thorn fences" mean here?

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