Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/328

312 the owner can make another floor higher up, with some bamboo sticks and a few hours of time.

The house is only one story high. The framing of the roof except for the larger pieces, which are of timber, is made with bamboos of sizes graduated to correspond with the weight they are intended to support. It is covered with a shingling of palm -leaves, or with wisps



of straw, after the fashion of a European thatch. The outside walls and the partitions are often made in the same way. Inside, the house is divided into three or more apartments. The first, the vestibule, usually open in front, is reached by the ladder. Next to it is the principal room, serving for salon, dining-room, and bedroom, and from