curses(3): curscr->_y... Why doesnt it contain normal chars?

[charles spell]

I am linking with Sys5 curses(3). The _y element of WINDOW *stdscr and windows
created by newwin() have normal characters in it. The _y element of a WINDOW
structure is usually a pointer to a pointer of unsigned two-byte numbers
(shorts on our machines).  Simple enough. The lower (LSB) byte corresponds to
the actual character and the upper (MSB) contains the video attribute.
                              +  Question:
  mvaddstr(0, 0, "Test");     |     Why does curscr->_y[i][j] (where i < LINES
  mvaddstr(1, 0, "One");      |     and j < COLS) NEVER contain any characters
  refresh();                  |     that are in ANY window on the screen?
Will put a:                   |
'T' in stdscr->_y[0][0] and a |     What is curscr->_y really pointing to and
'e' in stdscr->_y[0][1] and a |     how does one use curscr->_y DIRECTLY to
's' in stdscr->_y[0][2] and a |     get all characters on the screen no matter
't' in stdscr->_y[0][3] and a |     how many windows are on the screen?
'O' in stdscr->_y[1][0] and a |
'n' in stdscr->_y[1][1] and a |     Can anyone with source to curses help?
'e' in stdscr->_y[1][1]       |     Thanx.     uunet!mcnc!unccvax!cs00chs
                              |                cs00chs at unccvax.mcnc.edu
Assuming no video attributes  |
are set.                      |
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