6~4 THE RUINS OF LOU-LAN.
This apartment is separated from its nearest neighbour on the north-northeast by a gangway or passage, 6.2 m. broad, which no doubt was uncovered. This new house is 13.8 m. broad and 9 m. long, and contained three rooms, two of them quite small. From the smallest of the three, on the south-west, a door opened out into the large room; while from the other small apartment a door opened out to the north-north-east. Each of the outside walls of the largest room contained 22 upright posts, the corner-posts and a central post in each side being especially strong. In the middle of the north-north-east wall the door-frame still remains, indeed the upper lintel has not even moved. The side-posts are 2.44 m. high, and of this 1.87 m. still project above the surface of the ground, the remainder being buried. The ground was covered with drift-sand, dust, and various broken pieces of timber. Both the side-posts were fitted into mortices cut in the foundation-beam that formed the threshold.
Fig. 282.
In the interior of the largest room there were four vertical posts, three of which still stand upright, though they are severely damaged by the winds and by sand-abrasion, especially on the side from which the prevailing winds blow. These four interior posts, which form a smaller square (5.1 m.) inside the larger plan of the room, were not connected by walls; their object probably was to support the roof. Whether that was flat or pyramidal I was again unable to make out. The four posts are beautifully turned, and narrowed towards the top. These timbers afford an excellent illustration of the great preservative power of the sand ; for those parts of the beams and posts which were buried are still sound, and retain their hard, compact consistency, and their fresh yellowish red colour.
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