Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/129

PAR 121 The spaces between the lines a a and b b represent an outlet for drain- age purposes, which is made either on the eastern or northern face. The main entrance at c is always constructed on the southern half of the face E, so as to afford a screen to the inner doorway, which is in the centre of the line e The other principal doorways are built in the centre of the walls, north, west, south. The doorways are merely vacant spaces which, when required, are closed with a rough brushwood or grass screen called a statti." In the Patti and Partabgarh tahsils one sees more thatch-pent roofs than any other; but in the Bibár tahsil the flat mud roof is principally adopted. The walls are covered with a rough frame-work of leaves and rús brushwood, and clay is then plastered over it for a thick- ness of about two feet. These roofs, used also as dormitories in the hot weather, are preferred to the pent roof, as they do not leak and last for many years; whereas the latter require renewal every year or two, accord- ing to the extent of the ravages made by the white-ants. Sometimes one sees a habitation combining both styles of roof. Then again, there is the single slope thatch roof, constructed by building up the inner wall to a considerable height above the outer one, and then applying the hypothe- nuse in the shape of a cumbrous thatch frame-work. Those who can afford the luxury use tiles. This is of course exceptional, and the fashion dates from annexation only. Within the space shown in the above figure, the cultivator manages to house his family, to shelter his bullock (and, if a Chamár or Pási, to keep his pigs like the Irishman in his cabin),* to store bis grain, and in fact to keep all his worldly possessions. The zamizdars and more opulent classes enclose their dwellings again by another outer wall, within which cattle sheds are erected and fuel and grain stored with- out encroaching on the inner space reserved for the privacy of the family, Receptacles for storing grain. Of grain storing receptacles the fol- lowing deserve mention :—The "garh” or “khaun," a deep circular hole generally constructed within the ángan, capable of holding from 100 to 300 standard maunds of grain. The mouth of the hole is narrow, seldom exceeding two feet in diameter, and retains this width until it reaches some three feet below the surface of the ground when it rapidly widens into the required dimensions. In this the different grains to be stored are deposited in layers, with a stratum of chopped straw between each sort. The mouth is then closed up in the following manner. At the bottom of the shaft or entrance hole sticks are secured cross-wise, and over these straw is placed, mud is then applied, and lastly dry earth is filled in up to the level of the ground. This style of storehouse is more common to the premises of the zamindar and village banker than to the dwelling of the ordinary cultivator. When closed up in Jeth (May and June) the garh is not opened until the season arrives for making advances and for sowing The koth is the common granary of the cultivator, and is a curi- ous contrivance. It consists of a solid mass of clay mixed with chopped straw, of circular shape, about three feet in diameter, and from about Chamárs and Pásis are, as a rule, only allowed to keep pigs within their dwellings when their houses are situated on the outskirts of the village, as indeed is generally the case. 16