246 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [ETH. ANN. 18 
inches wide and usually from 4 to 6 inches in thickness, or left half 
rounded below; this heavy bench is supported by stout sticks placed 
diagonally across the corners of the room, and is used as a sleeping 
place, also as a seat during festivals and at other times. 
At the back of the room, supported on an upright post from 2 to 3 
feet high, a lamp is kept burning, by public contribution, at all times 
when the kashim is gloomy. <A gut-skin cover is used over the smoke 
hole at all times, except when the fire is burning in the pit, or when the 
heat becomes too oppressive. 
The accompanying illustration (figure 76) shows the outside of the 
kashim at St Michael, with the long passageway of logs. <A sectional 
plan of one of these buildings is given in figure 77. _ 
bic. 76—Kashim at St Michael. 
Pikmiktalik was a very populous place in the days when reindeer 
were plentiful along this coast, some ten or fifteen years previously to 
my residence in this region; but in 1878 only two or three families 
remained, and the kashim and other houses were falling to pieces. 
Pastolik, near the Yukon mouth, is the southernmost settlement of 
the Unalit, and its buildings are typical. Ascending the Yukon and 
passing several unimportant little villages, the first characteristic 
settlement of the Yukon Eskimo is reached above Andreivsky. From 
that point up the river the towns are similar to one another, consisting 
of winter houses and kashims built on the ordinary plan, and of large, 
loosely built summer houses of hewed planks on an inner framework, 
with sloping roofs. 
