80 



Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 



gulf was about 18 feet high, while its diameter at the bottom was about 20 feet. 

 Possibly this was the kind of tent that Hearne saw at the mouth of the Copper- 

 mine river, though his description is far from clear. It is much less common 

 than the rectangular tent, yet the Copper Eskimos have used- it for "as long 

 as they can remember. The conical tent described by Murdoch from Barrow, 

 Alaska, and by Mr. Stefansson from the Mackenzie delta, differed from the 

 Copper Eskimo type in that only four or five of the poles reached the apex of 

 the cone, the remainder leaning against a hoop that passed over the principal 

 poles some 6 feet from the ground.^ 



(Photo by R. M. Anderson). 

 Fig. 27. A spring tent with an outer wall and passage of snow-blocks 



The inland Eskimos of northern Alaska, and some of the Mackenzie natives, 

 often use bee-hive tents of an altogether different shape; originally they were 

 made of deerskin, but this has now been superseded by cloth. The frame is 

 of pliant willow sticks, which are bent over in pairs and lashed together to 

 form a series of arches.^ The Copper Eskimos, however, are unacquainted 

 with this style of tent, which is more akin to one used by the Indians. 



The summer tent of the Copper Eskimos has the same shape as their rectan- 

 gular spring tent, only it is much smaller and made of lighter skins. Often 

 indeed, they use not deerskins but sealskins, from which the hair has been 



^Murdoch, p. 86; Stefansson, Anthrop. Papers, A.M.N.H., Vol. XIV, pt. I, p. 26 et seq. 

 2See the excellent photographs in E. de K. Leffingwell, The Canning River Region, Northern Alaska, 

 Interior Department, U.S.G.S., Professional Paper 109, Plate VII., Washington 1919. 



