ANOTHER TALE OF ARCADT. 59 



sequently, many of them stood in moist situa- 

 tions ; and occasionally, in autumn, foaming 

 torrents tore up the folds and washed away the 

 outbuildings. These, like the houses, were low, 

 and a man of ordinary height could not pass 

 the door-lintel without stooping. The floors of 

 the houses were below the level of the ground 

 without, and entrance was made by a descent 

 of one or two steps. The basement was divided 

 into three apartments — the " buttery," which 

 constituted the general larder ; the common hall 

 or kitchen, which formed the living room ; and 

 a slightly raised chamber, in which the master 

 and mistress slept. The whole was either 

 rudely paved with cobbles from the river bed, 

 or had a floor of flattened loam. 



There was no fire-grate, nor is there yet in 

 many of the smaller dwellings of the dales ; 

 the peat or wood fire being laid on the hearth. 

 The fires were " raked " at night, and some are 

 known never to have been extinguished for a 

 century. " Raking " was easier than having 

 to re-kindle fuel with the aid of flint and 

 steel, and was the universal practice. The 

 chimney-place was one into which a waggon 

 might have been driven, being twelve feet or 



