Chiefly Thatching 
But it had to be lifted up without tangling. 
To manage this, the thatchers were provided 
with a clutch—an ingenious home-made imple- 
ment—into which the straw could be packed 
for lifting. It was made of a forked bough of 
hazel, cut off short just under the fork and leaving 
the two slender branches, each about four feet 
long, spreading to ten or twelve inches between 
their ends—like a long and narrow V. At one 
of the two ends a hook was tied with a stout 
String some six inches long. At the other end 
was a notch to receive the hook when the two 
branches were Strained together. This thing 
was stood on the ground, butt downwards; 
the wisps of straw were packed closely into it; 
and when it was full the yielding forks were 
tightened together and hooked, so that all could 
be safely carried up the ladder. 
(One of these implements, ready to “ spring ” 
or split down the short connection, had been 
Strengthened there with a fine cord neatly bound 
round it, as on the handle of a spliced cricket 
bat, or on those South Sea implements to be 
seen in the British Museum, in which stone 
axe-heads are corded into their cleft hafts.) 
On the rick the man worked upwards, from 
eaves to ridge, pushing the upper ends of his 
Straw-wisps into the underlying hay; but I was 
unable to see how he gradated the wisps or kept 
103 
