To attain an equivalent standard of comfort, the rooms of a tropical house require to be much higher pitched than is needful in temperate climates, but it is quite possible to carry this to excess, as over a certain height, the pendulum swing of the punkah is too slow; and it is well known to students of ventilation that spaces of dead air, unsearched by the currents normally circulating through the room, are very apt to be found in too lofty apartments. From 16 to 18 feet is a good average standard, and if the height be carried many feet above the higher figure, it is desirable that a strong beam should be carried across the room, at about that level, to carry the punkah. As far as ventilation is concerned, there is probably little advantage in any height of ceiling above 13 feet, but this does not give an adequate swing for a punkah. As already incidentally mentioned, the writer holds a strong preference for houses of two or more floors. While residents of Calcutta or Bombay will never, if they can avoid it, live on the ground floor, there is a general but quite unfounded idea, amongst up-country residents in India, that upper floors are necessarily hotter. It is needless to say that the reverse is actually the case, and that other things being equal, upper storey rooms are necessarily cooler and more healthy, on account of their better exposure to the breeze and their being to a great extent raised above dust and other more subtle emanations from the soil. The reason for this misapprehension is that, outside the Presidency towns, upper rooms are almost universally makeshift additions, with no proper verandah protection, and often flimsy roofs. Now it is obvious that to gain the full advantage of an upper storey, all verandahs should be carried right up, so that except in being elevated above the soil, the upper rooms are exact reproductions of those below them. I cannot recall, however, a single instance of a properly planned two-storied house “up-country,” and it is absurd to expect that a room with thin brick walls, exposed directly to the sun’s rays, can be as comfortable as one with massive walls and broad verandahs. It may be admitted that during the day, when the doors are shut to keep out the heat, the upper rooms of a two-storied house will be hotter than the lower ones, because one has but a single roof overhead in place of two, but they will be cooler than the lower ones would be, assuming the upper story to be removed. It is also extremely desirable that the plan of the house should include a stair giving access to the roof, as during the hot dry season, there can be no doubt that it is by far the healthiest plan to sleep there.