NELSON ] KASHIM CONSTRUCTION 245 
the rawhide covers of the 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 inaterial. 
Kashims are common everywhere among the Eskimo and have been 
adopted by the adjacent Tinné 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 exposure. 
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 24 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 usually 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 buill to heat the room for sweat baths, or at rare intervals in 
winter; but usually the heat from the bodies of the oceupants keeps the 
temperature so high that they remain nude, or partly so, much of the 
time, even in winter. Other planks 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 
i summer, when it is closed only by a bearskin curtain. In winter 
this entrance, which is above the ground, is closed tightly, and around 
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 
