The doors used by the natives are generally made of such wood as the neighbouring country may afford, and consist of a few vertical planks, kept together by two, or more, horizontal battens; the fastenings are, for the most part, made by staples and hooks, into which strong wooden bars slip, and unslip, with ease. The windows are always very small, perhaps not more than two feet square, and are closed by means of wooden shutters, having exteriorly a _jaump_, made of bamboo battens and mats; which, being firmly put together, and suspended at their upper borders by hooks, or rings, fastened into the wall, or into the wooden plate covering the aperture, may be raised, as though on hinges, to any desired elevation, and preserved therein, by bamboo stilts, made either with forked ends, or having small blocks of wood nailed to them, to prevent their points from passing through the mats. The same kind of defence is used for doors in general, but of a much larger size than for windows; when raised, they certainly are extremely useful in keeping off the sun and rain; when lowered, so as to lie parallel with, and close to, the wall, they are an admirable defence against wind and dust; though both will find their way through the several small apertures in sufficient quantity to prove highly unpleasant at certain times. In houses constructed by the natives, the windows are placed very high up; sometimes scarcely allowing a person to look out. This is done for the sake both of privacy, and of coolness; as the rarefied air is better enabled to make its escape, than when the apertures are low. Thus, most of the houses built by the French at Chandernagore, &c. are far cooler than those formerly built in Calcutta; owing to the windows of the former being carried nearly to the tops of the rooms, while the latter have often seven or eight feet of wall above them. It has several times happened, that persons sent up to work at the timbers supporting the flat roof above, have fallen from their ladders, or scaffolds, in consequence of the air in the upper part of the room being unfit for respiration. As to chimnies, they are utterly unknown among the natives: though, in some cottages, an aperture is left for the escape of smoke, but rather by neglect than by design. The smoke must escape when and how it can; but, it does not incommode a native a thousandth part so much as it does an European, who must suffer some inconvenience at the best of times, when a fire is lighted within the sitting room; but, when green wood is put on, the latter cannot stand its effects. The former will, even at such moments, often be seen smoking his _goorgoory_, as though the atmosphere were not sufficiently burthened with fuliginous particles to amuse his lungs. Victuals are rarely cooked within the house, when the weather permits of that operation being performed in the open air; indeed, few persons, who are not extremely poor, are without some little