70 CHARCOAL BURNERS IN EPPING FOREST.
them. The beds were made of three heavy logs of wood placed
upon the ground, with cross-bearers of smaller boughs put over
them, and the whole covered with straw. There was no
properly-formed hearth, and of course no chimney, but a small
charcoal fire was kept burning in the middle of the gangway,
near the door. One had to step over it upon entering. The pur-
pose of this was solely, or at least for the most part, to supply
warmth. I do not think the men did very much cooking upon
the spot beyond boiling a kettle and small matters of that
kind. Most of their more important meals were brought to them
ready prepared.
The men told me that they suffered no inconvenience from
living in this primitive structure, and that the turf walls, after
the first shower or two of rain had silted up the interstices,
became quite watertight. The turf was also pleasant to live
under, keeping the interior fairly equable in temperature. In
fact, Mr. Cook, who suffers from asthma while in his own house,
never has any trouble from this complaint so long as he is
living in tile charcoal burner's hut.
When he returned to the hut in July 1909, after an absence
of between eight and nine months, the hut had fallen out of
repair, but this was very largely through the wilful destruction
of mischievous persons. At this date, the sods of turf had slipped
down the outer slope, and had accumulated in a ring round the
base. As the men were only intending to stay a short time at
the work, they did not think it worth while to properly repair
the hut. They accordingly merely threw some sheets of
tarpaulin over the framework and tied them down. I think they
had occasion to regret this course, even although their stay was
only a short one. They found great discomfort from rapid
changes of temperature; an intense heat beneath the tarpaulin
during the day being followed by an equally severe cold at
night.
I have just referred to the fact that, as the charcoal burner's
hut began to fall out of repair, the sods of turf slipped down the
slope of the combined roof and walls, if one may so speak of it
(for roof and walls were not differentiated from each other),
forming a raised ring round the base. Unfortunately matters
were not allowed to take their natural course beyond this point;
for, immediately after this date, the work being permanently