A squared roof-plate, still more massive than the floor
ties, is then laid upon the crowns of the columns of the front row,
along its whole length, and a second one upon the back row. This is
dowelled upon the columns (I.E. the top of the column is cut to form a
pin which is let into the longitudinal beam); and the beams which make
up the roof-plate are spliced, generally in such a way that the top of
a column serves as the pin of the splice. Each of these heavy beams
is generally lifted into its place by tiers of men standing on poles
lashed at different heights across the columns, their efforts being
seconded by others pulling on rattans which run from the beam over
the topmost cross-pole. The framework of the roof is then completed
by laying stout roof-ties across the crowns of the double row of
columns of the middle line, and lashing their extremities to stout
purlins (longitudinal beams for the support of the rafters in the
middle of their length), and by laying the ridge-timber upon a line
of perpendicular struts. The ridge-timber and purlins, though less
heavy than the roof-plates, consist also of stout squared timbers,
spliced to form beams continuous throughout the whole length of the
house. The rafters are laid at an angle of about forty degrees and
at intervals of eighteen inches; they are lashed to the ridge-timber
and to the purlins, and lipped on to the roof-plates, beyond which
they project about four feet to form an cave.
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