315 



smaller, intermediate between the three mentioned, as also a 

 further pair at each of the side-platforms. 



The position of all these projecting stones is schema- 

 tically represented on fig. 11. They enable us to understand 

 the developmental history of the house, as their situation in 

 pairs would indicate, that they must have arisen from a method 

 of building in which there were entire cross-beams going right 

 across the house. We can therefore imagine one of two things. 

 Either small houses were built originally, so that a single 

 stone could- reach across, or other materials besides stone 

 have been at the disposal of the builders. Of these two alter- 

 natives we can certainly exclude the first; houses of this kind 

 would be extremely 

 small, and we have 

 no evidence from 

 anywhere that they 

 have existed. On 

 the other hand, as 

 already mentioned, p.^ ^j 



it is permissible to Diagram showing the position of the projecting stones in 



a winter-house. 



believe, that the Po- 

 lar Eskimos have had other building-materials, for example, 

 whale-bones. And it therefore seems reasonable to set up the 

 hypothesis, that at the places in the Polar Eskimos house, 

 where we now find the projecting stones, there have originally 

 been whale-ribs for the support of the roof. The house of 

 whale-bone has thus not only preceded in time the present 

 stone-house, but it has also been its technical precursor. 



The longitudinal section fig. 9 shows on the left the house- 

 passage, which is formed of two vertical stone-walls with flat 

 flag-stones above, and furthest to the right the continuation of 

 the natural slope of the ground, out of which the house is to 

 some extent dug. The passage is so low that one must crawl 

 on going through it, or like the Eskimos bend the body at 

 XXXIV. 21 



