264  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    96 
slightly  domed  roof  supported  usually  by  uprights,  and  with  low 
sleeping  platforms  along  the  walls.  Instead,  the  inner  room  of  the 
Metlatavik  house  approaches  closely  the  Point  Barrow  type  with  roof 
supported  by  beams  extending  from  wall  to  wall  and  sloping  downward 
at  front  and  rear ;  and  the  sleeping  platform,  instead  of  running  along 
the  three  sides  of  the  house,  is  single  as  at  Point  Barrow,  extending 
out  from  the  back  wall. 
The  Metlatavik  entrance  room,  which  seems  to  differ  from  those 
known  elsewhere,  is,  strangely  enough,  similar  in  certain  respects  to 
another  Arctic  form  of  dwelling,  the  Mackenzie  house.  These  re- 
semblances are:  the  irregular  shape  of  the  floor  plan;  central  part  of 
roof  supported  by  four  uprights;  alcoves  with  sloping  roofs  and  floors 
higher  than  that  of  the  central  floor  space.  The  Metlatavik  house 
thus  seems  to  show,  in  somewhat  modified  form,  a  combination  of  the 
features  characteristic  of  the  two  types  of  houses  of  the  Western 
Arctic,  those  of  the  Point  Barrow  and  Mackenzie  regions. 
Kotzebue  describes  houses  at  Shishmareff  Inlet,  between  Metlatavik 
and  Kotzebue  Sound,  which  were  also  of  the  Metlatavik  type  (1821, 
pp.  199-201);  and  Simpson  (1875,  p.  258)  says  that  small  houses 
"  with  two  recesses  opposite  each  other,  and  raised  about  a  foot  above 
the  middle  space,  are  very  common  on  the  shores  of  Kotzebue  Sound." 
Charles  Brower.  the  trader  at  Barrow,  who  some  45  years  ago 
lived  at  Point  Hope,  has  informed  me  that  the  old  houses  there  also 
were  practically  identical  with  the  Metlatavik  type. 
For  the  houses  at  Point  Barrow  we  have  the  detailed  descriptions 
of  Simpson  and  Murdoch.  The  houses  were  entered  through  a  low 
underground  passage  25  feet  long,  at  the  outer  end  of  which  was  a 
ladder  or  blocks  of  wood  for  steps.  Oldening  from  the  passage  on 
both  sides  were  several  small  chambers  or  recesses  used  for  cooking 
and  storage.  The  passage  enters  the  inner  room  through  a  round 
opening  in  the  floor,  which  is  covered  with  heavy  planks.  There  is 
a  single  roof  beam  stretching  across  the  room  somewhat  back  of  the 
center  and  resting  on  the  upper  ends  of  upright  wall  pieces  which  are 
higher  than  those  in  the  front  and  rear  walls.  The  roof  is  thus  given 
a  double  and  unequal  slant,  the  planks  sloping  from  the  roof  beam 
down  to  the  walls  in  front  and  rear.  This  is  the  same  general  arrange- 
ment of  roof  and  walls  as  described  above  from  Metlatavik  except 
that  at  the  latter  place  there  were  two  pairs  of  roof  beams  spaced  5 
feet  apart,  between  which  were  laid  cross  timbers,  making  the  central 
part  of  the  roof  flat.  The  Point  Barrow  sleeping  platform  is  also 
of  the  Metlatavik  type,  consisting  of  a  single  broad  bench  extending 
from  the  back  wall. 
