PUNT CARRIAGES, WAGONS, AND HOUSES 225 



dissected and carted away if the occasion arises. There are 

 many reliable portable-building makers in the country who 

 are quite willing to construct any kind of small house according 

 to specification. Most of these manufacturers do not tie them- 

 selves solely to their own designs or any fixed system. Wood 

 (white deal) is undoubtedly the best material of which to build 

 a boat-house. Corrugated sheet-iron sweats a good deal with 

 the variation of atmospheric temperature, and causes small 

 buildings made entirely of it to be damp, and even mouldy 

 inside. If the inside is lined with wood, this dampness does 

 not readily occur. Galvanised iron sheets corrugated make a 

 thoroughly rainproof roof; but even when using these sheets 

 for this purpose it is well to first lay a complete wooden roof, 

 and not simply rafters alone. The floor of a punt-house need 

 not necessarily be of wood ; if the situation is fairly dry, it will 

 be just as good, even better, if of the bare ground, for then 

 there will be less harbourage for rats and mice. Wooden 

 floors in boat-houses seem to rot soon through dampness, 

 which, to a great extent, cannot be avoided. Raising the 

 ground inside the house, say four or five inches, assists to keep 

 the house dry, and is an improvement upon leaving it the same 

 level as outside. Windows in a boat-house should be placed 

 facing to the north, and fitted with strong shutters. It is 

 advisable to line the inside of these shutters with sheet iron, 

 so as to protect the glass in the windows from breakage by 

 shot-gun pellets. It seems to be a customary practice with 

 some foolish shore-shooters to test their guns on anything 

 plain and flat they meet with. The shutters and doors of 

 huts and outbuildings situated on wild parts of the coast seem 

 to have a special attraction for these gentry. 



We detail a sketch of a house suitable for the punting wild- 

 fowler. It is 26 ft. long by 13 ft. wide by 12 ft. high ; 8 ft. to the 

 eaves. A small single door is situated at one end, and a large 

 double door (for running the boats in and out) at the other. 



