274 



REPOiJT of NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1901. 



example of these specimen labels, taken from the dwelling group 



series, may be given: 



(d.) 



DWELLING GROUP OF THE CENTRAL ESKIMO. 



The Central Eskimo live on the area between Hudson Strait and Baffin 

 Bay. Their winter houses are built of blocks of snow laid up in a spiral 



manner, forming a dome. Tbe blocks are 

 about 3 feet long, 2 feet high, and 6 inches 

 thick. The main chamber of the house 

 varies from 5 to 12 feet in height, and from 

 7 to 15 feet in diameter. Over the entrance 

 a square is cut out and the hole is covered 

 with seal intestine for a window. The 

 principal room is connected by passage- 

 ways with one or more storage rooms. In 

 summer the natives fish in the open water; 

 in winter seals are taken by nets set under 

 the ice. Dogs are attached to the sled by 

 separate lines. The clothing of the men 

 and women is made from skins of seal and 

 deer, and consists of outside and inside 

 trousers; jackets, those of the women hav- 

 ing hoods; boots, and inside boots or socks 

 made of light deerskin or birdskin. 



This model forms one of a series designed to set forth the dwellings and 

 home life of native tribes in the Western Hemisphere. 



Exumpl, of culture-history < xhibit— The nature of the geo-ethnic or 

 .specialization area assemblage of the culture materials of the world 

 has been sufficiently shown in the preceding pages. It is the first and 

 most important method for a general museum. It remains now to 

 explain briefly the nature of the culture-history installation, a partial 

 list of the available exhibition units of this class having already been 

 given. 



In fig. 8 we have a scheme for placing and labeling a series of 

 exhibits illustrating progressive steps in the art of sculpture in stone. 

 The other series are to be treated in like manner. This art began very 

 eat A in the career of the race and in forms so simple that they would 

 not at first be recognized as belonging to the art of sculpture by the 

 unscientific student. We are able to trace it more fully than any 

 other art because its products are stone, which is not seriously affect ed 

 by lapse of time. Then again the tribes and nations of to-day are 

 found to be practicing every known step in the art from the most 

 elementary to the most highly perfected, so that its whole history 

 comes well within the range of present observation, and examples 

 of the tools and the work are available. The first conscious step 

 in the art was probably that of fracturing one flinty stone with 



