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HANDICRAFTS 207
topmost cross-pole. The framework of the roof is
then completed by laying stout roof-ties across the
crowns of the double row of columns of the middle
line, and lashing their extremities to stout purlins
(longitudinal beams for the support of the rafters in
the middle of their length), and by laying the ridgetimber
upon a line of perpendicular struts. The
ridge-timber and purlins, though less heavy than
the roof-plates, consist also of stout squared timbers,
spliced to form beams continuous throughout the
whole length of the house. The rafters are laid at
an angle of about forty degrees and at intervals of
eighteen inches ; they are lashed to the ridge-timber
and to the purlins, and lipped on to the roof-plates,
beyond which they project about four feet to form an
eave. Strong flat strips or laths are laid along the
rafters parallel to the length of the house at in-
tervals of about sixteen inches. On these are laid
the shingles or slats of iron-wood in regular rows,
in just the way in which roof tiles are laid in this
country. Each slat is a slab about i x 30 x 1 2 inches,
and is lashed by a strip of rattan, which pierces its
upper end, to one of the laths. The floor is completed
by laying longitudinal joists of stout poles
across the main floor-ties ; the poles are notched to
grip the ties. Upon these joists, transversely to
them, are laid a number of flat strips which immedi-
ately support the floor planks ; these are kept in
place by their own weight.
In a well-built house these planks are between
thirty and forty feet in length, or even more, two to
three feet in breadth, and three to four inches thick.
They are made from tough strong timber, but usually
not from the iron-wood trees. They are moved
from house to house, and some of those in use are
probably hundreds of years old. A single tree is
generally made to yield two such planks. After
being felled it is split into halves longitudinally in