78 THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 



large triple house described by Dr. Simpson, and compared by him 

 with that described by Richardson, though in some respects it more 

 closely resembles those seen by Hooper. 1 This house really has a fire 

 place in the middle, and in this approaches the houses of the southern 

 Eskimo of Alaska. According to Dr. Simpson, 2 &quot;a modification of the 

 last form, built of undressed timber, and sometimes of very small dimen 

 sions, with two recesses opposite each other, and raised a foot above the 

 middle space, is very common on the shores of Kotzebue Sound,&quot; but he 

 does not make it plain whether houses like those used at Point Barrow 

 are not used there also. 



This form of house is very like the large snow houses seen by Lieut. 

 Bay at hunting camps on Kulngrua. Dr. Simpson describes less perma 

 nent structures which are used on the rivers, consisting of small trees 

 split and laid &quot;inclining inward in a pyramidal form towards a rude 

 square frame in the center, supported by two or more upright posts. 

 Upon these the smaller branches of the felled trees are placed, and the 

 whole, except the aperture at the top and a small opening on one side, 

 J is covered with earth or only snow.&quot; 2 These buildings, ami especially 

 the temporary ones described by Dr. Simpson, used on the Nunatak, 

 probably gave rise to the statement we heard at Point Barrow that 

 &quot;the people south had no iglus and lived only in tents.&quot; The houses at 

 Norton Sound are quite different from the Point Barrow form. The 

 floor, which is not planked, is 3 or 4 feet under ground, and the passage 

 enters one side of the house, instead of coming up through the floor, 

 and a small shed is built over the outer entrance to the passage. The fire 

 is built in the middle of the house, under the aperture in the roof which 

 serves for chimney and window, and there is seldom any banquette, but 

 the two ends of the room are fenced off by logs laid on the ground, to 

 serve as sleeping places, straw and spruce boughs being laid down and 

 covered with grass mats. 3 



The houses in the Kuskokwim region are quite similar to those just 

 described, but are said to be built above ground in the interior, though 

 they are still covered with sods. 4 There are no published accounts of the 

 houses of the St. Lawrence islanders, but they are known to inhabit sub 

 terranean or partly underground earth-covered houses, built of wood, 

 while the Asiatic Eskimo have abandonded the old underground houses, 

 which were still in use at the end of the last century, and have adopted 

 the double-skin tent of theChukches. 5 In addition to the cases quoted by 

 Dall, Capt. Cook speaks of finding the natives of St. Lawrence Bay in 

 1778 living in partly underground earth-covered houses. 6 



&amp;gt; See ante. 

 Op. cit., p. 258. 



B DaIl, Alaska, pp. 13 and 14, diagram on p. 13. 

 Tetroft 1 , Kcport, etc., p. 15. 



See Dall, Cont. to N. A. Ethn., vol. 1, p. 105. Mr. E. W. Nelson tells me, however, that the village 

 at East Cape. Siberia, is composed of real iglus. 

 6 Third Voyage, vol. 2, p. 450. 



