414 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1677-8. 



the like quantity at night, till the midst of February. About which time the 

 ovens are so hot, that a person can hardly endure to lay his hand on the walls. 

 After this, they put the eggs into the ovens, to hatch the chickens, which they 

 continue successively till the end of May. 



The eggs are first put upon mats in the lower ovens, which are on the 

 ground ; 7 or 8000 eggs in number, and laid only double, one upon another. 

 In the ovens above these lower, the fire is made in long hearths or little chan- 

 nels, having some depth to receive the fire, from whence the heat is conveyed 

 into the lower ovens before-mentioned. The eggs which are directly under 

 these hearths, lie treble one upon another ; the rest, as was said, only double. 

 At night when they renew the fires in the hearths above-mentioned, they then 

 remove the eggs that were directly undermost, lying treble one upon another, 

 in the place of those which lay on the sides only double, and these being now 

 removed, they lay treble under the hearth, because the heat is there greater 

 than on the sides where the eggs are only double. These eggs continue in the 

 lower ovens 14 days and nights; afterwards they remove them into the upper 

 ovens, which are just over the lower. In these, there being now no more fire 

 used, they turn all the eggs 4 times every day or 24 hours. The fire in the 

 upper ovens, when the eggs are placed in the lower, is thus proportioned: The 

 first day, the greatest fire. The second, less than the first. The third, less 

 again. The fourth, more than the third. The fifth, less. The sixth, more 

 than the fifth. The seventh, less. The eighth, more. The ninth, without 

 fire. The tenth, a little fire in the morning. The eleventh, they shut all the 

 holes with flax, &c. making no more fire ; for if they should, the eggs would 

 break. They take care, that the eggs be no hotter than the eye of a man, 

 when they are laid upon it, can well endure. The twenty- first or twenty-second 

 day the chickens are hatched, which the first day eat not ; the second they are 

 fetched away by women, who give them corn, &c. 



When the chickens are hatched they put them into the lower ovens, which 

 are covered with mats. Under the mats is bran, to dry the chickens: and 

 upon the mats straw, for the chickens to stand on. 



The master of the ovens has a third part of the eggs for his cost and pains, 

 out of which he is to make good unto the owners, who have two-thirds in 

 chickens for their eggs, such as may happen to be spoiled or miscarry. 



The ground plot of the house and ovens is delineated according to fig. 1, 

 pi. 12. Here ab is a long entrance, on each side of which are 14 ovens, some- 

 times more, sometimes less. The bottoms and sides of those ovens which are 

 on the ground are all made of sun-dried bricks, upon which they put mats, and 

 on the mats the eggs. The tops of these ovens are fiat, and covered with sticks. 



