76 THE rnixT hakkow eskimo. 



Around Norti>ii Souiul, Ikiwcxci. ilicy use a inoie elaborate structure, 

 consisting- of a ic.^iilar little Ikiiisc (i Icct squaic raised 6 to 10 feet from 

 the ground on four posts.' 



r.elonging to cadi liousfliold. aud usually near tlic liousc. are low 

 scaffolds for tlu; large boats, rows of posts for stretcliing lines of thong, 

 and one or more small cellars or underground rooms framed with whales' 

 bones, the skull being frequently used for a roof, which serve as store- 

 houses for blubber. These may be called "blubber rooms." 



These winter houses can only be occupied when the weather is cold 

 enough to keep tlu' ground hard frozen. During the summer the ])as- 

 sageways are full of water, wliieh freezes at *^he beginning of winter 



^^ 





and is dwii out with a pirkax. The pe.iple of Utkiavwin began to conu- 

 to us to borrow our pickax to clean out their iglus about September '2i, 

 ISSL', and all the houses were vacated before July 1, both seasons. 



This ])articulai- form of winter house, though in general like those 

 bnilt by other I-'skimo, nevertheless differs in nian.\ ics|iccts from any 



flat-roofed building of turf and stones, with the passageway in the 

 middle of one side instead of one end, and not underground. Still, the 

 door and windows were all on one side, and the banquette or "bris" 

 only on the side ojijiosife tiie cntiance. The windows were formerly 

 nuule of seal I'utrails, and the passage, thoirgh not underground, was 

 still lower than the Uoor of tlie liouse, so that it was necessary to stei> 

 up at each end.- 

 A detailed description of the peculiar communal Iii mse of the East 



' Dall, Alaska, p. 13. 



'Egfde, Greenland, ji. 114; Crantz, Hiatury nf (ini-iilaud, vol. 1, ji. l:i»; liiuk, Talus and Traditions, 

 p. 7. 



