The Portland daily press., 1876-03-17

JAPANESE WoRKMEN AT THE CENTENNIAL
GRoUNDs,-An interesting correspondents Of
the New York World gives the following
sketch of work on the Centennial grounds:
The Japanese carpenters at work fascinate
crowds of curiosity hunters, Yankee artisans
aud thieves To keep all at a distance guard
fence has been set around the Japanese buid-
ing. An old boss Philadelphia carpenter
whom l saw leaning over the fence yesterday
afternoon said, in answer to my question
whether any one could go inside:
80, no. They had to put up this concern to
keep ,out just such men as me- They've got
tools in there that American carpenters can't
hold candle to, and they found out that some
folks around here wasn't above stealing. But
the tools amt half as ingenious as their way
of handlin 'em. L have watched that fellow up
there now for half a day, and never seen him
use rule nor measurin' rod. D-d il he
don't measure everything with his eye. See
him now-see him saw off that connection be-
tween the N two posts; see how quick he saws
it 10 two with that little fine tool of his. Now
look at him put it up. TheIe-it fits to a hairs
breadth, and yet he did it with his eyel Now
notice that other little cuss over yOnder He's
tixip' one dove-tail into another; he hsin't
touched anything in the shape of a rule since
he began, and you'll see he'll Imake them two
joints set as if they were melted into each
other. Hi! didn't tell you so? can see like
a microscope; you couldn't get your finger nail
in the crack"
"What is the wood they use?'
"Mostly a kind of cedar, straighter, and
whittier, and closer-grained THAI ours not go
red. and without the odor of American cedar"
"But that lghter-colored aud bard wood,
with those elaborate carvings. over the front
entrance and under the window.i .intels9'
81 don't exactly know the name of that
wood IL IS very fine-almost as tine as some
OF our lockwood, but harder, and has, as you
see, a large, broad, ornamental grain"
And the root tiles-what material?'
"Kahole, clay mixture of their own. Each
tile weighs about as much as one OF our
bricks"
(These tiles are of peculiar construction
convoluted on Que side, the other side slightly
convolued, tapping under and into the convo-
luton of ITS neIghbor, SO that the tiles are
jointed sidewse by the device of their own
construction. | did not see that they were
knitted toqethy r up and down the roof by any
ioiut or CATCH but they overiapped one another
as American shingles do, and were fastened to
the roof by deep under-layer of waterproof
cemeDt)
L remarked to the carpenter that such roof
must be very heavy
"Heavy! Yes, indeed. That there roof
must weigh nigh on TO two tons. But lust see
how beautifully they contrive to support it
without letting it seem to be heavy and with
out seeming to make any fuss. See how light
all the timber gear is; yet how well the up
rlghss are distributed and how well placed the
slender braces are II didn't tell you you'd
oever think that roof was so heavy. When
they get the bailding flushed aud painted
you IL think of the roof as the iightest part OF
1t, aud the whole thing will seem as 1t you
could take 1t up 90 your back and carry u
away"