Hi Sylvia: My guess is that: Upper roomed = double storey Lower roomed = single storey These terms must have been an English transliteration from the Danish Moira Breen USA Sylvia Murphy <sylcec@ihug.com.au> wrote: Hi listers I am analysing the 1840 census* of Serampore for a University assignment, with respect to the European and Indo-European (my term) population of the town. Their residences are described variously as: Pucka Upper Roomed Building Pucka Lower Roomed Building (or similar terms) Now, from both Hobson-Jobson and from Ivor Lewis' 'Sahibs, Nabobs & Boxwallahs' - I get the understanding that Pucka or Pukka in this context means built of proper bricks (i.e. fired) and mortar as opposed to mud bricks (which would be Cutcha) - argument will be entered into! However, I would be pleased to have clarification of the "upper roomed" or "lower roomed". Do these terms simply imply that all the living quarters are upstairs, or in the case of lower roomed, maybe just a single story house? * for those readers who raised their eyebrows to doubt such a thing exists - the census was taken by the Danes on 9 November 1840 of the entire population, enumeration sheets do exist and are available on film through the LDS Family History Centres. The Danes sold Serampore (which they called Frederiksnagore) to the English at the end of 1845. The other Danish territory - Tranquebar - had a census taken in 1834 and the enumeration sheets for there have also been filmed, but I haven't looked at them yet. Looking forward to the experts thoughts. Sylvia (in Sydney) -------------------------------