Dwellings 61 



■will be a hole in one of the bottom blocks through which to pass them in; if 

 no such hole exists one is quickly cut out with the knife. Now the woman 

 goes inside, carrying her snowshovel with her, levels the floor in the front half 

 and raises a bank behind it to form the sleeping-platform. Often in building 

 the hut the man will cut his blocks from the front part only, leaving the snow 

 behind at its natural level, which is now one tier above the floor; this gives a 

 platform already made, and he has merely to pass in the furniture for his wife 

 to arrange in order. 



While the wife is thus busy within, the man must construct a passage for 

 his hut. This is a simple operation, merely the building of two straight walls 

 about three feet apart and from four to five feet high roofed over at the top 

 with horizontal blocks. Before he begins it he closes the hole through which 

 the furniture was passed and does not cut the doorway until after the passage 

 is finished. The hut is thus hermetically sealed, and time is given the woman 

 to light her lamp and warm the room before her husband enters. . In making 

 the door he pokes his knife through the wall at the end of the passage, cuts out 

 an arch about two feet high, and calls to his wife within to give it a kick; the 

 block falls outwards into the passage and is quickly dragged away. The 

 man's work is now finished, eave that he must pile all bags and pokes and lash- 

 ings, that are' not wanted in the house, on top of the rampart outside, and dis- 

 pose his sled in safety for the night. 



Meanwhile his wife is arranging the house within. Usually a gap is made 

 in the middle of the sleeping-platform where clothes and other articles can be 

 conveniently stowed away. Then she arranges the platform itself, covering 

 it over with mats of willow twigs tied together with rawhide thongs, and bridging 

 the gap with three or four planks. Musk-ox skins are laid on top of the matting, 

 and on these again the deerskins, in two layers, the lower ones having the fur 

 side downwards while the upper skins have the fur on top. In the upper skin — 

 each is called a kak — -not only should the fur be upwards, but the hair should 

 lie towards the door; for, like a carpet, they must be swept from time to time 

 and naturally the sweeping is done outwards on to the floor along the set of the 

 hair. The sleeping-bags, the men's tool-bags, the women's sewing-kits and 

 various other articles are strewn indiscriminately on top of the skins till bed- 

 time, when the room is tidied up. 



In front of the platform the lamp and table with their appurtenances 

 occupy half the floor space, while the door comes in the middle of the arc at 

 the very bottom of the wall. Usually, but by no means invariably, the lamp 

 is to the left of the door, as seen from the inside. The natives have a curious 

 device for supporting the lamp and table, and every family adopts the same 

 method. One piece of the furniture consists of a long board shaped like the 

 letter L, but widest at the elbow. This is used to form a strut, the long end, 

 the top of the L^ being driven into the wall of the house, while the short end 

 rests directly upon the floor or on top of a small block of snow. The table is a 

 long flat board resting at one end on the elbow of the strut; the other, like 

 the strut, to which it is at right angles, is driven deep into the wall. It thus 

 lies parallel to the front of the sleeping platform, from which it is separated by 

 a narrow space along which the wife can move freely in and out. Both table 

 and platform stand some two feet above the floor. 



Two poles run parallel to the table and just behind it; on one side their 

 ends are resting on the strut, while on the other they are driven into the snow 

 wall of the hut. On top of these is placed the lamp, a shallow trough of stone 

 with a partition usually along the back; sometimes, instead of a single lamp of 

 large dimensions two smaller ones are used, placed end to end. Care must be 

 taken to set the lamp horizontally, or with a shght tilt forward so that the oil 

 will run towards the wick. Some contrivance is then required for suspending 

 the cooking-pot above it, so a short stick, notched at its upper end, is planted 



