, oblong,
and generally of the same size--one to live in, the other to sleep
in--for the great majority of the squatters' hovels have no upstair
rooms. At one end there is a small shed for odds and ends. This shed
used to be built with an oven, but now scarcely any labourers bake their
own bread, but buy of the baker. The walls of the cottage having been
carried up some six feet, or six feet six--just a little higher than a
man's head--the next process is to construct the roof, which is a very
simple process. The roof is then thatched, sometimes with flags cut from
the brooks, but more usually with straw, and practically the cottage is
now built, for there are no indoor fittings to speak of. The chimney is
placed at the end of the room set apart for day use. There is no
ceiling, nothing between the floor and the thatch and rafters, except
perhaps at one end, where there is a kind of loft. The floor consists
simply of the earth itself rammed down hard, or sometimes of rough
pitching-stones, with large interstices between them. The furniture of
this room is of the simplest description. A few chairs, a deal table,
three or four shelves, and a cupboard, with a box or two in the corners,
constitute the whole. The domestic utensils are equally few, and
strictly utilitarian. A great pot, a kettle, a saucepan, a few plates,
dishes and knives, half-a-dozen spoons, and that is about all. But on
the mantelpiece there is nearly sure to be a few ornaments in crockery,
bought from some itinerant trader. The walls are whitewashed. The
bedroom is plainly and rudely furnished. Some cottages do not even
attain to this degree of comfort. They consist of four posts set in the
ground which support the cross-beam and the roof, and the walls are made
of wattle and daub, _i.e._, of small split willow sticks, put upright
and daubed over with coarse plaster. The roofs of these cottages are
often half hidden with rank grass, moss, and sillgreen, a vegetation
perhaps encouraged by the drippings from a tree overhanging the roof;
and the situation of the cottage is itself in many cases low and damp.

But there is a class of squatters, who possess habitations more fit for
human beings. These were originally built by men who had saved a little
money, had showed, perhaps, a certain talent for hedge carpentering or
thatching, become tinkers, or even blacksmiths. In such capacities a man
may save a little money--not much, perhaps L30 or L40 at furthest. W