8 to 12 feet in width. The roof, which is thatched with long, rather
broad leaves, is constructed on the ridge and gable principle, with
the gable ends facing the front and the back, and the roof sloping
on both sides in convex curves from the ridge downwards. Remarkable
and specially distinctive features of the building are the thatched
roof appendages projecting from the tops of the two gable ends
(front and back), the forms of which appendages are somewhat like a
hood or the convex fan-shaped semicircular roof of an apse, and in
construction are sometimes made as rounded overhanging continuations
of the upper part of the roof, and sometimes as independent additions,
not continuous with, and not forming parts of, the actual roof. In
front of the building, but not at the back, is a platform at a level
about a foot below that of the inner floor, extending the whole
length of the front of the building, and projecting forwards to a
distance of from 2 to 5 feet. The approach from the ground to this
platform in the case of a high-built emone is a rudely constructed
ladder, but when the building is only low and near the ground it is
generally merely a rough sloping piece of tree trunk, or even only a
stump. The two gable ends are enclosed with walls made of horizontal
tree branches, two or three of which are, at both the front and rear
ends of the building, discontinued for a short distance in the centre,
so as to leave openings. These openings are, say, 2 feet or more
above the level of the front outside platform, and 1 foot or more
above that of the inside floor, and are usually very small; so that,
in entering or leaving the building, you have to step up to, or even
climb, and wriggle yourself through the opening, and then step down
on the other side. Inside the building you find the centre of the
floor space occupied by a longitudinal fireplace, about 2 feet broad,
extending from front to back of the building; and the floors on each
side of this fireplace slope upwards somewhat from the visible level