164 H. P. STEENsBY. 
In other places, for instance at the mouth of the Mackenzie, at 
Point Barrow, and at Smith Sound snow houses as well as more solid 
winter houses are used. The latter, in these three places, are, moreover, 
seen to represent three different types, which differ from the snow 
house not only as regards material but also in their structural 
features, so that it is evident that each of them has a history of develop- 
ment other than that of the snow house. 
While the snow houses are everywhere of the same prevailing type, 
the winter houses in the three places mentioned above, and in some 
other districts, exhibit such great mutual differences that these cannot 
be accounted to be simple local variations. In some cases we are 
obliged to assume outside influences as regards the types of the winter 
houses. These interesting conditions, which cannot be treated anthropo- 
geographically, will be discussed later on in a supplementary ethno- 
graphical chapter (See pp. 187 sqq.). 
The snow house, on the other hand, must necessarily be regarded 
as an original Eskimo creation. With no other people do we find anything 
corresponding to it. But then, it must be remembered, no other region 
provides so decidedly, as does the region of the Central Archipelago, the 
geographical conditions for the origin of the snow house, such as the 
presence of the necessary snow and the absence of other kinds of build- 
ing materials (especially wood). Immediately the Mackenzie river and 
Point Barrow are reached, where wood is present in sufficient quanti- 
ties, other and more spacious and warmer houses occur, and the snow 
house becomes of less importance. 
The geographical distribution of the snow house is from Kotzebue 
‘Sound in the west to Melville Bay and Northern Labrador in the east. 
It plays its greatest réle in the Archipelago or in the regions where the 
hunting on the sea ice is of the greatest importance. As the hunting 
on the ice decreases in importance on getting away from the Archipelago 
the snow house also disappears. 
Consequently, if the snow house is of Eskimo origin, and some, at 
any rate, of the other winter house types are of foreign origin, yet all 
the winter-house types have adopted three contrivances which, it is 
true, may not be regarded as being of Eskimo origin, but as they 
are necessarily employed in every primitive Arctic house, must there- 
fore be assumed to have been used in the oldest Eskimo houses, 
These inventions are the passage which by its length and arrange- 
ment replaces a tightly shutting house door, the blubber lamp which 
replaces a fire, and the platform which also plays an important part 
in connection with the heating of the house}. : 
The Skin Tent is the summer dwelling from Greenland and Labrador 
* Regarding these technical items the reader is referred to M. o. G., Vol. 34, 
pp. 311 sqq. 
