224
or four families in this case) agreed to bring all the ashes from the daily clean-out of the stove to the latrine, and tip them into the dump. After using the latrine, users would take a spadeful of ashes and tip it through the gap. This kept the smell of the latrine from becoming too offensive.
The aim was to produce a mixture of ash and excrement which was both an excellent fertiliser, and capable of being stored against need. To store this fertiliser, the mixture had to be dry. The latrine therefore was designed so that liquids would drain out of it into a urine pit let into the floor, and lined with heavily plastered bricks. The latrine owner would dip out the urine as necessary, and remove it to a storage jar outside, to mature it for fertiliser.
The main contents of the latrine would be cleared out once every few weeks, when the latrine was full. A section of the wall round the latrine proper was made of planks slid into a groove. These were removed, and the contents of the latrine scraped out through this gap. The contents were then taken to a drying ground, and spread out to dry in the sun. Every latrine owner had access to a manure drying ground for this purpose: the villagers usually forbade the use of the rice drying grounds for drying manure. When dried, the fertiliser was rock hard. It was then crushed to a powder under a heavy stone roller pulled by an ox; in some villages the crushing was done by the ox pulling a heavy plank, made heavier by having a child stand on it. The dried and powdered fertiliser could be stored almost indefinitely so long as it was not allowed to get damp.
The third division of the structure was used as a pig-pen. This division could have been used as a second latrine compartment, had the usage of the latrine increased to the point where this was necessary.
This latrine structure at Wo Hang is entirely typical of the thousands which, even only twenty years ago, were to be found throughout the New Territories. Wo Hang is a Hakka village, but Punti villagers have told me that latrines in their villages were identical. Some latrines were smaller, consisting only of the latrine proper and the ash-dump with a narrow corridor in front on to which the door opened; these latrines were sometimes only about 6 feet square. Others were busier, with two or even three latrine compartments. Probably most were very similar.
224
or four families in this case) agreed to bring all the ashes from the daily clean-out of the stove to the latrine, and tip them into the dump. After using the latrine, users would take a spadeful of ashes and tip it through the gap. This kept the smell of the latrine from becoming too offensive.
The aim was to produce a mixture of ash and excrement which was both an excellent fertiliser, and capable of being stored against need. To store this fertiliser, the mixture had to be dry. The latrine therefore was designed so that liquids would drain out of it into a urine pit let into the floor, and lined with heavily plastered bricks. The latrine owner would dip out the urine as necessary, and remove it to a storage jar outside, to mature it for fertiliser.
The main contents of the latrine would be cleared out once every few weeks, when the latrine was full. A section of the wall round the latrine proper was made of planks slid into a groove. These were removed, and the contents of the latrine scraped out through this gap. The contents were then taken to a drying ground, and spread out to dry in the sun. Every latrine owner had access to a manure drying ground for this purpose: the villagers usually forbade the use of the rice drying grounds for drying manure. When dried, the fertiliser was rock hard. It was then crushed to a powder under a heavy stone roller pulled by an ox; in some villages the crushing was done by the ox pulling a heavy plank, made heavier by having a child stand on it. The dried and powdered fertiliser could be stored almost indefinitely so long as it was not allowed to get damp.
The third division of the structure was used as a pig-pen. This division could have been used as a second latrine compartment, had the usage of the latrine increased to the point where this was necessary.
This latrine structure at Wo Hang is entirely typical of the thousands which, even only twenty years ago, were to be found throughout the New Territories. Wo Hang is a Hakka village, but Punti villagers have told me that latrines in their villages were identical. Some latrines were smaller, consisting only of the latrine proper and the ash-dump with a narrow corridor in front on to which the door opened these latrines were sometimes only about & feet square. Others were busier, with two or even three latrine compartments. Probably most were very similar
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