. Bulletin. Ethnology. 312 BUREAU OF AMERICA:^" ETHNOLOGY [bull. 7S ing roof over a shallow excavation. It lias no northwestern affini- ties except the quadrilateral shape: the bark house of the central tribes was conical. The size, too, was not northwestern: only 8 by 12 feet or less. The most distinctive feature was a deliberate depar- ture from rectangular form, the southern end being wider than the northern by the breadth of the included door. The two door posts matched a single post in the middle of the opposite end. The ridge pole consequently was double also. The narrow triangular
. Bulletin. Ethnology. 312 BUREAU OF AMERICA:^" ETHNOLOGY [bull. 7S ing roof over a shallow excavation. It lias no northwestern affini- ties except the quadrilateral shape: the bark house of the central tribes was conical. The size, too, was not northwestern: only 8 by 12 feet or less. The most distinctive feature was a deliberate depar- ture from rectangular form, the southern end being wider than the northern by the breadth of the included door. The two door posts matched a single post in the middle of the opposite end. The ridge pole consequently was double also. The narrow triangular space between the ridge poles, or part of it, was left open for a smoke hole. The so-called " sweat house," which was primarily a dance house, chief's home, or dwelling for several families, was like the ordinary house except so far as its greater size, up to 20 by 30 feet or so, enforced modifications. The most important of these was a center post, without which no Indian of the northern half of California would have thought a ceremonially used house com- plete. This was set not in the exact middle, but about two-thirds of the way from the broader front end. The roof was sujiported by two rafters laid transversely from the center post to the sides, and by two others reaching from these two to the door posts (Fig. 25). A second feature which proves this structure to have V)een essentially a form of the central Californian ceremonial chamber, was the earth roof; the bark of the living house was replaced by a layer of poles and brush. Finally, the smoke hole probalily replaced the door as the normal entrance, the door being kept as a draft hole. There is some doubt on this point, but as the closely allied Atsugewi favored the entrance and exit by the roof, and since this is a frequent north central Californian practice, it is hardly likely that the Achomawi diverged materially on a point to which so nuich significance was attached in custom. The ladder is stated to have
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