CONTEACr WOEK. 
bungalows or stores, coolies were always on the road 
to and from Kandy, just because nothing was pro- 
perly caculated for, or, if it was, the chances were 
the calculation in some way oi* other was wrong. 
A bolt, a screw, a hinge, or a ball of putty, had been, 
if not forgotten, omitted to be given in. It may 
almost be said, and said truly, that a bungalow of 
the olden times never was completed, because, no 
sooner was the work done, than constant alterations 
and periodical repairs became necessary. When the 
bungalow was, say habitable, the occupant w'ould 
look round, and decide on a place and site for sta- 
bles, cattle-shed, poultry-house. To save time and 
trouble, these buildings would probably be given out 
to some contractor, who promised to settle them up 
in very little time. Well, the sum is agreed upon, 
the risk is all the contractor’s, so the master need 
not trouble looking after the work. And so it was, 
wooden posts to support the building were put into 
the ground, about the size and bulk of what the rafters 
ought to have been, the rafters themselves were 
merely large varrichchus (wattles), and the wattles 
in some instances, the large rank stalks of mana 
grass, put three or four together, and tied across 
the rafters with coir rope : or, if not, some light 
suckling succulent underwood, prehaps not so good. 
There was plenty of mana grass for thatch, all round 
about, so that was soon done, and the buildings were 
roofed. After the rains set in and the thatch got 
heavy with wet, it would become quite apparent that 
the whole framework of the building was insufficient 
to support the roof ; the side posts and walls presented 
a curved and wavy appearance, as if they had not 
or could not make up their minds whether to tumble 
down inside or outside ; the roof itself would present 
the appearance of an inverted bow, so that the water, 
instead of running off, lodged half-way down, soaked 
through the grass, poured down into the building, 
where it stood in pools, or ran off in a series of 
small rivulets. The cattle were driven out to save 
them from the wet, for they could easily obtain, on 
natural instinct, a much more suitable shelter, undej- 
the lee of some rock or belt of junglo, than what 
our lively and intelligent building contractor had 
provided for them. Indeed it was h rdly s ife to 
keep them in the shed, the roof might fall in ; but 
what if it did, they could easily shake themselves 
free of it, without a scratch ! The writer has known 
some of this description of sheds blown down during 
the night, the roof lying hat as the ground, but the 
cattle had without much exertion pushed their heads 
through the battened roof, and were cpiietly and com- 
