}UTLL. 30] 



ARCHITECTURE 



79 



quired above ground. The large winter 

 houses are entered by a long underground 

 passage, the low walls of which are 

 constructed of whale bones, stones, or 

 timbers, while the house has a frame- 

 work of timbers or whale-ril)s covered 

 Avith earth. The ground-plan and inte- 

 rior arrangement are simple, but well per- 

 fected, and remarkably uniform over the 

 vast extent of the Arctic shore line. The 

 snow house is particularly a product of 

 the N. 8now and ice, available for the 

 greater part of the year, are utilized in 

 the construction of dwellings uni(|ue on 

 the face of the earth. These are built 

 of blocks of compacted snow held in po- 

 sition, not bj'^ utilizing any of the ordinary 

 principles of construction, but by permit- 

 ting the blocks to crystallize by freezing 

 into a solid dome of ice — so solid that the 

 key block may be omitted for a window 

 or for the passage of smoke without dan- 

 ger to the structure. This ' house lasts 

 during the winter, and in the summer 



SNOW-HOUSE, HUDSON BAY ESKIMO. (TURNER ) 



melts away. The summer houses are 

 mere shelters of driftwood or bones cov- 

 ered with skins. There is no opportunity 

 for esthetic display in such houses as 

 these, and clever as the P^skimo are in 

 their minor art work, it is not likely that 

 esthetic effect in their buildings, interior 

 or exterior, ever received serious consid- 

 eration. The people do not lack in aliility 

 and industry, but the environment re- 

 stricts constructive effort to the barest 

 necessities of existence and effectual! \ 

 blocks the way to higher development. 

 Their place in the culture ladder is by no 

 means at the lowest rung, but it is far 

 from the highest. 



The houses of the N. W. coast derive 

 their character largely from the vast for- 

 ests of j^ellow cedar, which the enter- 

 prising peoi)le were strong enough ti i 

 master and utilize. They are substantial 

 and roomy structures, and indicate on 

 the part ot the builders decided ability 

 in planning and remarkable enterprise 

 in execution. They mark the highest 

 achievement of the native tribes in wood 

 construction that has been observed. 

 The genius of this people applied to 

 building with stone in a stone environ- 

 ment might well have placed them 



among the foremost builders in America. 

 Vast labor was expended in getting out 

 the huge trunks, in hewing the planks, 

 posts, and beams, in carving the house 

 and totem poles, and in erectin.g the 



HOUSES OF NORTHWEST COAST TRIBES. HIGHEST Examples OF 

 WOOD CONSTRUCTION. (niBLACk) 



massive structures. The fagade, with its 

 mythological paintings and huge her- 

 aldic columns, is distinctly impressive. 

 In early days the fortified towns, de- 

 scribed by Vancouver and other pioneer 

 explorers, were striking and important 



cliff house, mesa verde, colorado. 

 Stone Construction 



HIGHEST TYPE OF 



constructions. It is indeed a matter of 

 regret that the genius of such a people 

 should be expended upon a material of 

 which no trace is left, save in museums, 

 after the lapse of a few generations. 

 The contrast, due to differences in en- 



