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‘An empty room. The curtains drawn and gas turned low.’ John Galsworthy (1916)

The archetypical Socotran dwell- ings are little square and windowless houses. They are built of roughly hewn stones plastered with clay mud. The roof is traditionally made of the stem of shrubs, mostly of the hardwood of the «Croton socatranus», on which palm leaves are laid. This supporting structure is then covered with soil, mud, and coral sludge to form the ceiling. More often than not, these roofs fail to withstand the seasonal rainstorms.