NELSON] KASHIM CONSTRUCTION 245 



the rawhide covers of tlie kaiaks and the lashings of the sledges. 

 These frames are formed usually of two horizontal, parallel poles, or 

 small logs, raised on posts with forked ends or mortised into the 

 timber, their size and strength depending on the abundance of neces- 

 sary material. 



Kashims are common everywhere among the Eskimo and have been 

 adopted by the adjacent Tinnc of lower Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers. 

 They vary in size according to the number of inhabitants in the village. 

 The material used for these structures is driftwood, consisting of logs 

 and poles which float down the rivers in. spring and are strewn along 

 their banks or carried to sea and scattered along the coast during the 

 following summer. Spruce is the most common variety. The logs are, 

 usually deprived of their bark by friction and are seasoned by exi)osure. 

 Logs 15 or 20 inches in diameter are not uncommon, and some are 

 found reaching 30 feet in length; as a rule, however, the timbers are 

 much smaller. 



In constructing a kashim the logs are laid in the form of a square 

 to the height of 7 or 8 feet; from thence they are drawn in on every 

 side, in alternate courses, until the last are short, and surround a square 

 opening in the roof, directly over the middle of the room, and from 9 to 

 12 feet above the floor, forming a frame for the smoke hole, which is 

 about 2 or 2^ feet in width. If the building is small, it is covered with 

 a heavy layer of earth, but if large, a crib work is built around it, held 

 together by a frame, so as to inclose the building and form a double' 

 wall, inside of which is thrown a heavy layer of earth. 



The floor is usuallj' of hewed planks laid close together, and occupies 

 about one- third of the area of the room, in the shape of a square in the 

 center; it is laid on sills at the end so that the planks can readily be 

 taken up ; below these there is a pit from 3 to 4 feet deep, in which the 

 fire is built to heat tlie room for sweat baths, or at rare intervals in 

 winter; but usually the heat from the bodies of the occupants keeps the 

 temperature so high that they remain nude, or partly so, much of the 

 time, even in winter. Other i)lanks usually cover the ground back to 

 the walls, although in many places, especially where wood is scarce, the 

 floor of this portion of the room consists merely of the earth, beaten 

 hard. The entrance consists of a long, roofed passage, built of logs 

 and covered with earth; the outer end of this is faced with planks, 

 over which is a square, round, or arched doorway leading into the room 

 in summer^ when it is closed only by a bearskin curtain. In winter 

 this entrance, which is above the ground, is closed tightly, and a round 

 hole in the floor near the outer end of the upper passage leads through 

 a low tunnel, along which the people pass on their hands and knees to 

 the fire pit, and thence through a circular or oval hole to the middle of 

 the room. 



These rooms are from 12 to 25 feet square. Around the inside, about 

 4 feet from the floor, extends a bench, hewed from a single log, 15 to 18 



