. Our country: West. he planks which form thewalls are driven vertically into the ground, like the timbersof a stockade, and set closely together, edge to edge. Theplanks of the roof run up and down, from the stout ridge-poleto the low eaves. Just above the trap-door is a space about two feet widewhere short transverse planks take the place of the long ones,leaving a square opening for a window nearly in the middle ofthe roof. This window, and consequently the entrance of thehouse, always faces south in order that the most may be made 28 ALASKA ESKIMO HOUSES. of the daylight, which for seventy
. Our country: West. he planks which form thewalls are driven vertically into the ground, like the timbersof a stockade, and set closely together, edge to edge. Theplanks of the roof run up and down, from the stout ridge-poleto the low eaves. Just above the trap-door is a space about two feet widewhere short transverse planks take the place of the long ones,leaving a square opening for a window nearly in the middle ofthe roof. This window, and consequently the entrance of thehouse, always faces south in order that the most may be made 28 ALASKA ESKIMO HOUSES. of the daylight, which for seventy days in the winter is only afaint sunset glow in the southern sky. The window has no glass, but the Eskimos have in thetranslucent entrails of the seal a substitute for this whichadmits plenty of light, though nothing can be seen through it. To light the room during the dark season, and at the sametime warm it sufficiently to make an Eskimo comfortable,there stand on the floor, one at each end of the sleeping bench,. Eskimo Houses. a pair of soapstone lamps of the sort which furnish light andheat in every Eskimo household, east and west. These areshallow dishes, neatly carved out of solid blocks of soft soap-stone, somewhat like a half-moon in outline, and eighteeninches or two feet long. Along the front edge is arranged awick made of fibres of moss, and the bowl is filled with seal orwhale oil. ALASKA ESKIMO HOUSES. 29 These lamps burn with a bright flame and very littlesmoke, and when the whole wick is lighted the flame oftenleaps a foot into the air. The lamps are the special charge ofthe women, who tend them carefully, trimming the wickswith little sticks, and keeping plenty of oil in the vessel. Tofeed the lamp, there is often a lump of solid blubber, as largeas ones fist, held on a sharp stick projecting from the wallabout a foot above the lamp. As the heat melts the blubberthe oil drips into the vessel, and keeps it full. As two families usually occupy one of these hous
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectwestusdescriptionand
