146 



GRINNELL 



covered with it, so that even in wet weather it does not 

 become muddy. The fire is built on the ground in the 

 middle of the room, and the smoke escapes through nar- 

 row openings in the roof, for usually the planks do not quite 

 meet at the ridgepole, so that the sky may easily be seen. 

 Such houses are occupied by a number of families, us- 

 ually related in some degree. 



Such a village may consist of ten, fifteen, or twenty 

 large houses placed side by side on the bank just above 

 the beach, and not more than two or three feet above high- 

 water mark. The striking 

 feature of the village is the 

 totem poles, some of which 

 are fifty or sixty feet high, 

 erected by chiefs or prin- 

 cipal men in front of their 

 houses. They are elabor- 

 ately carved with figures 

 of men, frogs, birds, 

 and various mammals. 

 Some of them indicate 

 the descent of the man 

 who erected them ; 

 um/ others are burial trees in 



AW 



which are deposited the 

 ashes of the dead. Not in- 

 frequently more than one 

 totem pole is erected before a 

 =L-. house, and in a deserted village 

 which the Harriman expedition 

 visited there were nineteen poles, 

 while the houses numbered only 

 fourteen. The illustrations give a very clear idea of the 

 character of these poles. One represented a succession 

 of bears, one above the other, while the pole was sur- 



TOTEM POLES, CAPE FOX. 



