| caption: |
Chapter Fourteen. The Rescued Slaves |
| caption: |
steep roofed houses at Chingmei |
| text: |
The houses within the stockade had steeply-sloping roofs, rising from just above the ground at the back to about thirty feet in front. Thus the gables, protruding over the front wall, were so close together that the roofs often dove-tailed, and the streets, running in between the houses, were completely overshadowed. This had an advantage in the rains, for protected by the jutting gables, you could pass from one house to the other with dry feet. Even steeper and more sloping, the roofs of the morung towered high above the other houses, and gave the village the bizarre and characteristic silhouette of all Chang settlements. |
