394 



DWELLINGS. 



As a general rule we may say that the western yourts are 

 subterranean, while those of the tribes who live east of the 

 Rocky Mountains are generally above ground. The manner 

 in which the Esquimaux construct their snow igloos has 

 been well described by Captain Parry. They choose* a 

 drift of hard and compact snow, and from this they cut 

 oblong slabs, six or seven inches thick and about two feet in 

 length. With these they build a circular wall, inclining 

 inwards so as to form a dome, which is sometimes as much 

 as nine or ten feet high and from eight to fifteen feet in 

 diameter. A small door is then cut on the south side. It is 

 about three feet high, two and a half wide at the bottom, and 

 leads into a passage, about ten feet long, and with a step in 

 the middle, the half next the hut being lower than either 

 the floor of the hut or the outer passage. For the admission 

 of light a round hole is cut on one side of the roof and a 

 circular plate of ice, three or four inches thick and two feet 

 in diameter, is let into it. If several families intend to live 

 together, other chambers are constructed which open into the 

 first, and then after a quantity of snow has been shovelled 

 up on the outside, the shell of the building is regarded as 

 finished. The next thing is to raise a bank of snow two and 

 a half feet high all round the interior of the building, except 

 on the side next the door. This bank forms the bed. Over 

 it is laid some gravel, upon that again paddles, tent-poles, 

 pieces of whalebone, twigs of birch and of andromeda, etc., 

 and finally a number of deer- skins, which form a soft and 

 luxurious couch. They have no fireplace, properly so called, 

 that is to say no hearth, but each family has a separate lamp 

 or shallow vessel of lapis ollaris, in which they burn seal's- 

 oil, with a wick made of dry moss. 



Although they had no knowledge of pottery, Captain Cook 

 saw at Unalashka vessels " of a flat stone, with sides of clay, 

 * Parry, I.e. p. 500. 



