285 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [ETH. ANN. 18 
backs and shoulders with a wooden dipper, apparently experiencing the 
greatest pleasure from the operation. 
Throughout the region visited the men, while taking their sweat 
baths, are accustomed to use a cap made of the skin of some water fowl, 
usually the red- or black-throat loon. The skin is cut open along the 
belly and removed entire, ininus the neck, wings and legs; it is then 
dried and softened so as to be pliable and is fastened together at the 
neck in such a way that it can be worn on the head. Owing to the 
intense heat generated in the fire pit, the bathers, who are always 
males, are obliged to use respirators to protect their lungs. These are 
made of fine shavings of willow or spruce bound into the form of an 
oblong pad formed to cover the mouth, the chin, and a portion of the 
cheeks. These pads are convex externally and concaye within; cross- 
ing the concave side is a small wooden rod, either round or square, so 
that the wearer can 
grasp it in his teeth 
and thus hold the 
respirator in posi- 
tion. 
Some of the res- 
pirators are made of 
shavings bound to- 
gether at each end 
by a few strands of 
the same material 
and furnished with 
a wooden holder. 
Others are more 
elaborately made, as 
in the example from 
Shaktolik shown in figure 96. This is a little over 5 inches in length 
and 4 inches broad, and is made of fine wood shavings; it is smoothly 
oval in outline, with the border rounded by means of a rope-like band 
of shavings tightly wound with a cord made of the same material. 
Inclosed within this oval ring is a soft mass of shavings held in posi- 
tion by a loosely twisted cord made of the same. On the inner side 
the shavings are packed loosely and held in position by the rod or 
mouthpiece which crosses the pad horizontally. 
ST Ls ’ 
roe 
PA ye 
S4Q 
=~) 
Wh 
4 
Fic. 96— Respirator, front view (3). 
DWELLING HOUSES 
The dwelling houses are the domain of the women, From one to 
three families may occupy the platforms in the single room which the 
house contains, but each is quite separate and independent in all of its 
domestic arrangements. Each woman who is the head of a family has 
an oil lamp beside her sleeping bench where she sews or carries on her 
household work. Her own cooking utensils and wooden dishes for food, 
