TVnTBm EXPEEIENCES OF MB, STALE, 
answer the purpose of a trowel. With these he marked 
out a space on the mud, destined to form the lower 
portion of the chimney and the fire place ; the shape 
of the latter being similar to the inverted letter ** V,’’ 
the point being towards and touching the wall, with 
a perpendicular of three feet and a half ; the base of 
the letter faced the room, the breadth of which might 
be about two feet and a half, He then marked out 
a square, round the letter, of about six feet, and within 
this the chimney and fire-place were^to be built. Some 
coolies, under his own personal supervision and occa- 
sional assistance, now packed inside the square, stones 
large and small, with large dabs of mud instead of 
mortar, keeping the outside as straight as possible and 
leaving the inverted “V*" space inside quite clear, for 
this was to form the hearth and fire-place. As Mr. 
Stale was not sufficiently skilled in practical masonry 
to be able to undertake the formation of an arch above 
the fire place, when the building was about four feet 
high, he got two pieces of ten-inch wooden beam^ and 
laid them across ; on the top of these beams, and 
resting on the sides of the fire place, he placed a 
number of straight jungle sticks close together, and 
reaching up to the ridgepole, slightly tapering up to 
the top, 80 that the sticks presented a form somewhat 
resembling a huge sugar-loaf, which of course was 
ho' low inside. AH across the outside of the sticks 
he nailed, in a rough way, any pieces of old wood 
he could find as battens, about four inches apart. The 
whole of this erection was then plastered in with pud^ 
died mud, until not the vestige of a stick was to be 
seen on the outside. He then got hold of an old rice 
chatty, dr it might be, we are not certain that he was so 
extravagant as to purchase a new one, and carefully 
knocked out a hole in its bottom. This> he placed and 
fastened on the ridge-pole, on the top of the stick 
chimney, and the chimney then was complete I 
Tuen, was n’t he in a hurry to have a fire lighted, 
and test the result of this very cheap and ingenious 
contrivance ? “ Boy, bring some sticks directly, and 
kindle a fire. ” The boy, 'nothing lo‘h, briskly exe- 
cuted the order, probably having a very correct opinion 
that if the fire was once established, it would save 
him an infinite amount of trouble in running to and 
from the kitchen, to supply master with lights lOr 
his pipe, which was one of the most unpleasant of his 
arduous duties, for no sooner did he spy “master” 
settled down at his writing table, than he also settled 
down on his plank bed, covered himself over, head and 
all, with a blanket which had been reported to 
master, as having been sent to the dhobie and 
fell fast asleep. But he could never calculate on en^ 
Joying a peaceful, uninterrupted slumber ; it might be. 
