304 EEFORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



among the Bilqula and KwakiutL* These were noticed by Mackenzie 

 in the same year in the same localities.! 

 Dunn states (1834) of the Sebassa (southern Tsimshian) : 



They built their villages chiefly upon high and precipitous rocky islands or j)rom- 

 ontories, having steps cut down to the water. This is done to prevent any sudden 

 attack from the enemy.t 



The skill of the Indians in erecting fortifications is well illustrated 

 by Lisiansky (1804), who aided Baranoff in reestablishing the Eussian 

 settlement at Sitka after the massacre. In Voyages, page 163, Plate 

 II, is given a detailed plau and sketch of the palisade fort erected by 

 the Sitkas. It is unnecessary to reproduce it here, but iu structure and 

 design it would have done credit to European ingenuity of that date. 

 Langsdoril'(1805) describes the fortifications erected a year later by the 

 Indians expelled from Sitka as follows : 



They have fortified themselves here upon a rock which rises perpendicularly to the 

 height of some hundred feet above the water. * * * Tht) rock itself is secured 

 against the attack of an enemy by a double palisade of large trunks of trees stuck 

 close together, measuring from 12 to 15 feet iu height, and from 3 to 5 feet in thick- 

 ness. A natural wall of earth, beyond the palisading, on the side towards the sea, 

 conceals the habitations effectually, so that they can not be discerned by any ship.$ 



The only possible access to this fortification is described as on the 

 northwest side, but the approach was strewn with very large trunks of 

 trees to make it additionally difficult of access. 



TEMPORARY DWELLINGS. 



In summer camps, in hunting and fishing, and in canoe trips, the 

 form of dwelling is temporary in construction. 



Summer JisMng camp. — Near the mouth of some fresh-water stream 

 owned by a household or family, where the salmon run thickest, a rough- 

 ly-built house will generally be found. This varies in size and care of 

 construction according to circumstances. Usually the frame is light, 

 and the roof, instead of being made of split boards, is formed by broad 

 strips of bark which are laid on thus ^jTZS'lS^r and held down by stones 

 and cross pieces. The larger kind have a smoke hole, but usually the 

 fire is built outside, where the smoke assists in curing the strips of 

 salmon and halibut hung on frames above it. 



Tents. — The primitive form of tent for traveling consisted simply of 

 strips of bark carried in the canoes. To erect the tents two saplings 

 or branches would be cut, pointed, and stuck in the ground, forked ends 

 up, with a cross pole resting in the forks. The bark strips would then 

 be rested against the pole, forming a sloping wall towards the wind. 

 This half-open tent was airy in form, but would shed the water of a 

 driving rain. The fire was usually built in front. To-day the Indians 



* Vancouver, Voyage, Vol. ii, pp. 272, 274, 284. t Dunn, Oregon, p. 274. 

 t Mackenzie, Voyages, p. 345, et seq. § Langsdorff, Voyages, Pt. li, pp. 128, 



189. 



