452 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1890. 



the wood pile, there is a small, tent like structure made of poles covered 

 with Japanese straw mats. There are several such tents in the A'illage, 

 and on venturing to peep into them, much to the evident distaste of the 

 natives, I found them to be inhabited. They are scarcely large enough 

 for a human being to crawl into, but it would appear that the aged 

 women of the village sleep in them and have dogs for companions. 

 They crawl in somehow, curl up among filthy rags and tattered cover- 

 ings, and smother themselves to keep warm. 



Fig. 71. 

 Frame-work of front part of an Aino House. 



^Froni a photograph. ) 



The interior of a house at. Bekkai, taken from a photograph made 

 with magnesium light, is shown in Plate cm. The camera was set up in 

 the back window of the house. The main room is well shown, and the 

 outside scenery is glimpsed through the long entrance passage-way. 



Entering this house from the front, one must stoop to pass through 

 the doorway which will perhaps have only a mat of straw or reeds to 

 close it. The rectangular passage is used as a storeroom. It is high 

 enough for one to stand in erect. The floor is the darnp earth. At the 

 back is a sliding door made of boards, inclining outward toward the 

 bottom, through which, by stooping low, the main room about IS by 20 

 feet square is entered. The door is 3 feet in width by 3£ in height. 

 Just inside the door is a space, 3£ feet by 9 feet, where the sandals are 

 left on the bare ground. The floor of this house is made of boards 

 raised about inches above the ground, but they are covered with dirt. 

 A visitor receives a clean mat, which is immediately spread on the 



