552 THE CENTRAL ESKIMO. 



as that ®f the winter houses. At tlie edge of tlie bed and at the 

 entrance two pairs of converging poles are erected. A little below 

 the crossing points two cross strips are firmly attached, forming the 

 ridge. Behind the poles, at the edge of the bed, six or eight others 

 are arranged in a semicircle resting on the ground and on the cross- 

 ing point of those poles. The frame is covered with a large skin 

 roof fitting tightly. The back part, covering the bed, is made of 

 sealskins; the fore part, between the two pairs of poles, of the thin 

 membrane which is split from the skins (see p. 519), and admits the 

 light. The door is formed by the front part of the cover, the left 

 side (in entering) ending in the middle of the entrance, the right one 

 overlapping it, so as to prevent the wind from blowing into the hut. 

 The cover is steadied with heavy stones (Fig. .504 c). In Cumber- 

 land Sound and the more southern parts of BafTin Land the back of 

 the hut is inclined at an angle of 45°; in Davis Strait it is as steep 

 as (J0°, orevenmore. In thesummer tent the bed and tht' side plat- 

 forms are not raised, but oidy separated from the passage by means 

 of poles. 



Farther north and west, in Pond Bay, Admiralty Inlet, and Igiu- 

 lik, where wood is scarce, the Eskimo have a different plan of con- 

 struction (Fig. 505). A strong pole is set up vertically at the' end of 

 the passage, a small cross piece being lashed to its toj). The entrance 

 is formed by an oblique pole, the end of which lies in the ridge of 

 the roof. The latter is formed by a stoiit thong which runs over the 

 top of both poles and is fastened to heavy stones on both sides. If 

 wood is wanting, then poles are made from the penis bones of the 

 walrus. Parry found one of these tents at River Clyde, on his first 

 exjiedition, and describes it as follows (I, p. 383): 



The tents wliicli compose theii- summer habitations, are principally supported by 

 a long pole of whalebone, 14 feet high, standing perpendicularly, with 4 or 5 feet of 

 it projecting above the skins which form the roof and sides. The length of the 

 tent is 17, and its breadth from 7 to 9 feet, the naiTowest pai't be'ng next the door, 

 and widening towards the inner part, where the bed, composed of a quantity of 

 ■(J(i tcfrtigoiia. occupies about one-thml of the 

 It is lixcil wliiTc tlif lied commences, and the 

 ' il I Id I II- l;iii| :ii ross till- triit from side to side. 

 s also Inrincil of twii pii'ces of bone, with the 

 (• skins are made to overlap in that part of 

 the tent, which is much lower than the inner end. The covering is fastened to the 

 ground by curved pieces of hone, being generally parts of the whale. 



This kind of tent differs from the one descriV)ed by me o)dy in the 

 construction of its door. 



I could not find a description of the tent of the Hudson Bay Es- 

 kimo. There is oidyone illustration in Klutschak (p. 1:>T) and one 

 in Ross (II, p. 581) representing tents of the Netchillirmiut. In the 

 former there are a few conical tents, such as are used by the eastern 

 tribes before a sufficient number of skins for a large tent can be 



