190 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. IV. 



On these parallel plates split poles of spruce or cotton wood were made 

 to recline in a slanting position so as to form a roof without walls, the 

 split side resting immediately on the beams. To ensure additional 

 solidity, the lower end of each stick was slightly driven in the ground, or 

 covered up with earth. The middle ones were purposely shorter, so as 

 to form a smoke hole in the top. A covering of spruce bark was then 

 added, each piece of which was steadied by means of independent sticks 

 resting thereon. 



There now remained the gable ends. As with the other styles of native 

 buildings, a tJiapa-sd'a or transversal beam {c of fig. 179) was laid on the 

 side plate, b. Slender posts or stakes were next planted on the same 

 plan in an upright position to fill in the end of the lodge opposite to the 

 front. Fascines of spruce boughs or saplings were moreover laid against 

 this wall on the outside, and all possible interstices were carefully chinked 

 up by forcing in shoots of conifers. 



The front end was more complicated. As comfort and warmth were 

 the chief aims of the builders, the structure had but one entrance. This 

 was obtained by introducing immediately under the apex of the gable 

 down to the transversal plate a broad slab of spruce securely wedged 

 between the wall posts or stakes driven in the ground. The aperture left 

 free underneath constituted the doorway. This was shut by an in- 

 dependent board just a shade narrower, so as to move easily. It was 

 suspended by means of a stout rope, and to go in or come out you need 

 only push it ahead of you ; its own weight would cause it to return to its 

 original perpendicular position, and thus only a minimum of cold air 

 would steal in the building. As a further precaution against the in- 

 clemency of the season, the front end of the lodge was provided with 

 a semi-circular door-yard with an additional door. This sort of native 

 atrium resulted from a number of heavy poles or posts being made to 

 rest at their small end on the gable wall, while their lower extremity 

 described a half circle on the ground. The whole was then covered with 

 brush. The outer doorway was shut with some worthless skin with the 

 hair on, while the ground within the enclosure was strewn over with 

 small branches of conifers, generally spruce. This enclosure, besides 

 contributing to render the hut warmer, served also as a kennel for the 

 dogs and as a bathroom for the old men. Its native name was pdn-tsij 

 (a word of the third category of nouns). 



In the ground plan, fig. 178, the space between the uprights and the 

 corners of the lodge is purposely partitioned off. It forms what was 

 known as the 'kilnt'jat tsatcdn or corner store, the sides of which con- 

 sisted mainly of roughly hewn boards set up to the height of three or 



