THE QUEST OF THE OTTER. 



135 



excavation on the village site of a piece of earth ten or fifteen feet 

 square, three or four feet deep, which is laid back up and over upon 

 a wooden frame or whalebone joisting, which is securely built up 

 within and above this excavation, so that a rafter-ceiling is made 

 about six feet in the clear from the earthen floor. A wallspf peaty 

 sod is piled up around outside, two and three feet thick. The nat- 

 ive architect enters this dwelling through a little hall patched on 

 to that leeward side from the winds prevalent in the vicinity. The 

 door is low, even for Kahgoon, and he stoops as he opens and 



A Barrabkie. 

 ( The characteristic dwelling ofAleutes and Kadiakers.) 



closes it. If he has been a successful hunter, he will have the floor 

 laid with boards secured from the trader ; but if he has been un- 

 lucky, then nothing more to stand upon than the earth is afforded. 

 This barrabkie is divided into two rooms, not wholly shut out one 

 from the other, by a half-partition of mats, timber, or some hanging 

 curtains, which conceal the bedroom or "spalniah" from the direct 

 gaze of the living and cook-room. They are very fond of comforta- 

 ble beds, having adopted the feather-ticks of the Russians. Soap 

 is an. expensive luxury, so Rangoon's wife is economical of its use 

 for washing in her laundry ; and, though she may desire to spread 

 over her sleeping couch the counterpane and fluted shams of our 

 own choice, she has nothing better than a colored quilt which the 



