 The roof system would have been set on mud walls or atop simple masonry walls that were finished in smooth veneers.In time, this construction technique was replaced with wood framed roofs (often teak) covered with flat terracotta tiles together supported by thick laterite stone walls (a local material) veneered in ""chunam"", a polished lime plaster.The local components were thus fused with foreign building techniques introduced by outsiders, namely the Portuguese and later the Dutch.