n in a somewhat sloping form; otherwise there would be
a sort of _hip_ formed by the rafters. However, the thatch is to be so
deep, that this may not be of much consequence. Before the thatching
begins, there are _laths_ to put upon the rafters. Thatchers know all
about this, and all that you have to do is, to take care that the thatcher
_tie the straw on well_. The best way, in a case of such deep thatch, is
to have _a strong man to tie for the thatcher_.

246. The roof is now _raftered_, and it is to receive a thatch of _clean_,
_sound_, and well-prepared wheat or rye straw, four _feet thick_, as at _h
h_ in FIG. 2.

247. The house having now got _walls_ and _roof_, the next thing is to
make the _bed_ to receive the ice. This bed is the area of the circle of
which _a_ is the centre. You begin by laying on the ground _round logs_,
eight inches through, or thereabouts, and placing them across the area,
leaving spaces between them of about a foot. Then, _crossways on them_,
poles about four inches through, placed at six inches apart. Then,
_crossways on them_, other poles, about two inches through, placed at
three inches apart. Then, _crossways on them_, rods as thick as your
finger, placed at an inch apart. Then upon these, small, clean, dry,
last-winter-cut _twigs_, to the thickness of about two inches; or, instead
of these twigs, good, clean, strong _heath_, free from grass and moss, and
from rubbish of all sorts.

248. This is the _bed_ for the ice to lie on; and as you see, the top of
the bed will be seventeen inches from the ground. The pressure of the ice
may, perhaps, bring it to fourteen, or to thirteen. Upon this bed the ice
is put, broken and pummelled, and beaten down together in the usual
manner.

249. Having got the bed filled with ice, we have next to _shut it safely
up_. As we have seen, there is a passage (_e_). Two feet wide is enough
for this passage; and, being as long as the wall is thick, it is of
course, four feet long. The use of the passage is this: that you may have
_two doors_, so that you may, in hot or damp weather, shut the outer door,
while you have the inner door open. This inner door may be of hurdle-work,
and straw, and covered, on one of the sides, with sheep-skins with the
_wool on_, so as to keep out the external air. The outer-door, which must
lock, must be of wood, made to shut very closely, and, besides, covered
with skins like the other. At times of great danger from heat, or f