KOOTANIE AND OTHER CANOES. 255 
rush mats, but the wealthier ones have the skin 
lodge shown in the illustration.* These are by 
far the best lodges used. The poles are covered 
with the skins of either deer or buffalo, sewed 
together with tendon, and the top is constructed 
to move round in accordance with the wind, thus 
avoiding the blinding effects of the wood smoke. 
The fire is placed on the ground in the centre 
of the lodge, and the inmates squat round it, or 
when sleeping arrange themselves like the spokes 
in a wheel, their feet to the fire and their heads 
towards the sides of the lodge. A good skin lodge 
is worth 50 dollars, 10/.. The reader will get a 
clearer idea of the rush and skin lodge by com- 
paring the lodge shown in the sketch of Symuk- 
wateen with the three shown in the illustration 
‘ Indian Lodges.’ 
The canoes also are of various kinds; the canoe 
used by the Kootanies, described in a preceding 
chapter, is the general form of the bark canoe 
employed on all the rivers inland ; on the coast and 
up the Fraser River the canoes are all dug-outs, 
that is, made from a solid piece of wood hollowed 
and shaped to the desired pattern. The Fraser 
canoe has the bow and stern different to the canoes 
used by the Van Island Indians. These again 
* Vide illustration: Indian Lodges, 
