NELSON] 



HOUSES AT EAST CAPE 



257 



At Cape Prince of Wales, on the American shore of Bering strait, 

 there were two villages. One near the hill at the southern side of the 

 cape was called the " hill village," and the other, located on the flat, was 

 called the " spit village." They were separated by a space of about 75 

 yards. The houses were built of driftwood covered with earth, and 

 were very similar to those of the Diomede islands. The people of 

 these two villages had a standing feud that occasionally broke into 

 open quarrels. Those of the "spit village" were the most aggressive, 

 and were hated and feared by the others. 



Crossing the strait a large Eskimo village was found on the point of 

 East cape, Siberia. This was built on a steep slope fronting the sea, 

 and its dome-shape houses with small outer openings gave it the 

 same appearance of being a cluster of cliff swallows' nests that we had 



Fig. 85— Eskimo villajio at East cape, Siberia. 



noticed on our approach to King island. From the anchorage fifty-four 

 occupied houses were counted; these must have contained over two 

 hundred and tifty people. 



Just around the cape, to the north, was a village of equal size, which 

 was not visited. The village on the point was built on a slope of loose 

 granite fragments inclined at such an angle that there was space for 

 only a narrow trail in front of most of the houses, and then a sharp 

 descent of some yards. The houses consisted of a stone wall laid up 

 two or three feet from the ground, in oval form, and continued in the 

 shape of an arched or open-top entrance passage three or four yards 

 long, as shown in figure 8o. 



Upon this stone wall was a framework of whale- ribs arched to a com- 

 mon point over one side of the entrance, where they were met by the 

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