20 ON THE OLDER FORMS OF 



to me. In comparison, the Chinese tile seems roughly 

 made, is thin, and often warped. The India tile is equally 

 poor in workmanship. So accurately made are the Jap- 

 anese tiles that roots may be seen covered with a broad, 

 slightly curved tegula, no imbrex being used (fig. 29). 

 These tiles, like all Japanese tiles, are bedded in mud, and 

 in this instance the edges of the tiles are so straight as to 

 meet together quite perfectly. Simple tegulse are often 

 used as ridge-tiles on a thatched roof (fig. 27B). 



In the better class of tiled roofs it is customary to point 

 with white plaster a number of courses of tiles from the 



ridge, the hip and the eaves, and in some cases the whole 

 tiled surface is treated in this way. 



The Japanese ridge is often a very complex and remark- 

 able structure, sometimes of ponderous proportions, with 

 supplementary ridges running down on the hips, and even 

 diverticular ridges near the eaves. These are, or ought to 

 be, built up of tiles and plaster, but oftentimes the bulk 

 of the mass is made up of a carpenter's device consisting 

 of a framework covered with boards, the sides plastered 

 white and having all the appearance of a solid mass of 

 plaster and tiles (fig. 30). The terminal ridge-pieces are 

 often marvels of the tile-maker's art. 



Mr. Kashiwagi, a Japanese antiquarian of Tokio, told 

 me that he had records of sreen-olazed roofiii2;-tiles of the 



