It is perhaps singular that I should have seen _seerky_ in use among a groupe of gypsies in Essex: in India, those itinerants, whose habits and characters correspond with this intolerable species of banditti, invariably shelter themselves under _seerky_; which, being remarkably light, and, when doubled or trebled, completely water-proof, enables them to construct a very comfortable cabin in a few minutes. It often happens, during the rainy season, that part of a thatch sinks, or rots, and admits the passage of water to the interior; in such case, a piece of _seerky_, properly placed, causes the water to flow over the defect: when that article cannot be had, it is found expedient to throw a few pecks of chaff, or straw cut very small, upon those parts requiring relief; the chaff is drawn in by the percolating fluid, but, being obstructed in its passage, swells in consequence of the continued moisture, and thus, in a short time, usually stops the leaks. The mode of putting on a thatch above described, is confined to certain parts of the country; in other places, they put the grass on in a reversed position, as we do our wheat stubble thatches, the part which grew uppermost being placed lowest. But throughout the country, all thatching is done horizontally, and not vertically, as among us: the Indian thatcher begins at the bottom; whereas we commence at the side of a thatch: we thatch with skewers and rods of hazel, &c.; they with bamboo laths and twine made of grass; the latter being passed to and fro by means of long needles, made extemporaneously of bamboo, &c.