xxxviii Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



everything must have air and sunshine, or 

 it will become dead, unwholesome, and 

 dangerous. I do not consider the bunga- 

 low style of building the best or most ad- 

 vantageous at all, and a bungalow without 

 ground ventilation or one with a low roof is 

 always damp and unhealthy. The rooms 

 smell musty and clamp, especially in the rainy 

 season, and the inhabitants will almost invari- 

 ably be found to suffer from rheumatics, colds 

 or ague. In a locality where stone and lime 

 abound it will be found expedient to put up 

 walls, for the ground floor at any rate, on a 

 good sized plinth, but where good attention 

 has been paid to the construction of a wide 

 roof, even the walls are not necessary, and 

 galvanized iron, match-boarding or bamboo 

 matting may be used,, all according to the 

 length of purse or inclination of the man who 

 is going to live in it. The last named, bamboo 

 matting, is made by the natives very cheaply 

 indeed. They use the bamboo sliced into 

 strips, which are woven into large squares with 

 handsome patterns even. This matting is 

 made to fit the walls or divisions of the 

 house with the window spaces left out. The 

 edges are bound with bigger bamboo battens 

 or with wooden laths. This method is quite 

 pleasing and has the advantage of not cost- 

 ing much. From a sanitary standpoint, how- 

 ever, it has its drawbacks, because all dust 

 and dirt, as well as insects, are attracted and 



