ClIAP. VI. 
ICE-HOUSES. 
83 
are built of mud and stone, are very thick, twelve feet 
in height, and are, in fact, a kind of embankment rather 
than walls, having a door on one side level with the 
floor, for the removal of the ice, and a kind of sloping 
terrace on the other, by which the ice can be thrown 
into the house. On the top of the walls or embank- 
ment a tall span roof is raised, constructed of bamboo, 
thickly thatched with straw, and in appearance exactly 
like an English haystack. And this is the simple struc- 
ture which keeps ice so well during the summer months, 
and under the burning sun of China ! 
"The Chinaman, with his characteristic ingenuity, 
manages also to fill his ice-houses in a most simple way, 
and at a very trifling expense. Around the house he 
has a small flat level field connected with the river. 
This field he takes care to flood in winter before the 
cold weather comes on. The water then freezes and 
furnishes the necessary supply of ice at the very door. 
Again, in spring these same fields are ploughed up and 
planted with rice, and the water which drains from the 
bottom of the ice-house helps to nourish the young crop. 
Of course here, as in England, when the house is filled 
the ice is carefully covered up with a thick coating of 
straw. Thus the Chinaman, with little expense in 
building his ice-house, and an economical mode of filling 
it, manages to secure an abundant supply for preserving 
his fish during the hot summer months. 
" It now, I think, becomes a question whether we could 
not build ice-houses at less expense and more eflicient, 
upon the Chinese plan, than upon the old underground 
system common in England. The accompanying sketch 
