. Bulletin. Ethnology. kroeber] HANDBOOK OF INDIANS OF CALFFORNIA 289 In short, the Shasta constituted a fringe of both the northwestern and the central civilizations of California, with more leanings toward the former. They displayed national pecnliarities, of course; but these usually take the aspect of modifications rather than elabora- tions. HOUSES. The house is a case in point. It is essentially the Yurok board house with many of its most distinctive traits retained; but altered also in the direction of simplicity of construction. The ridge pole is double, but the roof comes to a single
. Bulletin. Ethnology. kroeber] HANDBOOK OF INDIANS OF CALFFORNIA 289 In short, the Shasta constituted a fringe of both the northwestern and the central civilizations of California, with more leanings toward the former. They displayed national pecnliarities, of course; but these usually take the aspect of modifications rather than elabora- tions. HOUSES. The house is a case in point. It is essentially the Yurok board house with many of its most distinctive traits retained; but altered also in the direction of simplicity of construction. The ridge pole is double, but the roof comes to a single crest, as in the Yurok poor man's house. The ridge poles as well as side plates rest on posts, as in the central Californian dwelling. The Yurok practice of laying them into notches in the end walls argues heavier planking and a. Fig. 24.—Cross section of Shasta house, a. Posts; h, plate logs; r, roof planks; d, side walls of earth, lined with, e, bark ; f, fireplace pot; (/, bed of pine ueedles ; h, storage space. (After Dixon.) more painstaking workmanship in spite of its theoretical structural inferiority. The Shasta dig out the whole interior, adding a small shallow pit for the fireplace. Thus the Yurok distinction between the deep central sitting and sleeping place around the fire and the elevated storage shelf surrounding it is Evidently the Shasta had less to store. Their house also had no real side walls. Earth was piled up to reach the eaves, and this lined interiorly with slabs of cedar bark. Even the poorest Yurok in the degenerate days of the present would think he had sunk below decency if he introduced mere bark into any part of his home. The door was made by omitting the lower half of one of the boards in the end wall and hanging in a mat—a much simpler proceeding than the northwestern one of carving a round hole in a 4-inch plank and providing a wooden slide panel. The four roof rafters appear to have been logs—a central Cali- fornian habit. The tru
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