70 HOUSES AND HOUSE.-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 
scaffolds, after which they are packed in baskets and then removed to their 
villages. This custom makes a general distribution of the capture, and 
leaves each household in possession of its share.’ 
Their communism in living is involved in the size of the household, 
which ranged from ten to forty persons. ‘ The houses of the Sokulks are 
made of large mats of rushes, and are generally of a square or oblong form, 
varying in length from fifteen to sixty feet; the top is covered with mats, 
leaving a space of twelve or fifteen inches, the whole length of the house, 
for the purpose of admitting the light and suffering the smoke to pass 
through; the roof is nearly flat, * * * and the house is not divided 
into apartments, the fire being in the middle of the large room, and imme- 
diately under the hole in the roof. * * * On entering one of these 
houses he [Captain Clarke] found it crowded with men, women, and chil- 
dren, who immediately provided a mat for him to sit on, and one of the 
party immediately undertook to prepare something to eat.”? Again: “He 
landed before five houses close to each other, but no one appeared, and 
the doors, which were of mats, were closed. He went towards one of them 
with a pipe in his hand, and pushing aside the mat entered the lodge, where 
he found thirty-two persons, chiefly men and women, with a few children, 
all in the greatest consternation.”* And again: “ This village being part 
of the same nation with the village we passed above, the language of the 
two being the same, and their houses being of the same form and materials, 
and calculated to contain about thirty souls.”* In enumerating the people 
1Alfred W. Howitt, I. G. S., of Bariusdale, Australia, mentions, in a letter to the author, the fol- 
lowing singular custom of an Australian tribe concerning the distribution of food in the family group: 
‘“A man catches seven river eels; they are divided thus (it is supposed that his family consists 
only of these named) : 
“Ist cel. Front half himself; hind half his wife. 
“2d eel. Front half his wife’s mother; hind half his wife’s sister. 
“3d eel. Front half his elder sons; hind half his younger sons. 
“Ath eel. Front half his elder daughters; hind half his younger daughters. 
“Sth eel. Front half his brother’s sons; hind half his brother’s daughters. 
“6th eel. One whole eel to his married daughter’s husband. 
“7th eel. One whole eel to his married daughter.” ' 
This custom may be supposed to show the ordinary household group, and the order of their relative 
nearness to Zgo. It foots up himself and wife, wife’s mother and sister, his sons and daughters, his 
brother’s sons and daughter’s, and his daughter’s husband. It implies also other members of the house- 
hold, who are obliged to take care of themselves; viz, his brothers and sisters. 
? Lewis and Clarke’s Travels, pp. 351-353. 3)b., p. 357. 4Ib., p. 376, 
