a

42 BRITISH COLUMBIA.

vegetable matter about their dwellings, and were ignorant of all that in the
modern world constitutes sanitation.

PLAN AND DIMENSIONS OF HOUSES.

The Kwakiutl laid out the ground-plan of a house with a cedar rope, the
first line being run from the middle of the front to the middle of the back. By
doubling the rope the distance was easily measured from the middle points to the
corners; the rectangle being completed by equalizing the distances from each
corner to the middle of the opposite side.

‘The measurement of Haida houses ranged from 40 to 55 feet in length and
from 35 to 50 feet in width; the walls varying from 12 to 19 feet in height.
‘The custom of excavating the earthen floor, sometimes in three stages or terraces,
added from 3 to 6 feet to the interior height.

The carved. house-poles stood from 18 to 55 feet above the ground-level in
the front wall of the house, and in the case of great chiefs a second heraldic pole
was placed at the back under the central roof-beam. An oval opening, about
3 feet high, cut in the lowest section of these heraldic poles, often served as
entrance, though provision was usually made for an exit at the back of the house.

Kwakiutl houses were usually more rectangular in ground-plan and of smaller
dimensions than those of the Haida, but those erected by the Interior Salish, living
on the Fraser River delta, are stated to have had a length of 70 feet and upward.
Simon Fraser describes one house, near the mouth of the river bearing his name,
which was 646 feet in length and 60 feet wide; and other writers mention dwell-
ings 500 feet long and, in one case, as much as 900 feet. Captain Cook was
amazed at the size of the Nootkan houses he saw at Friendly Cove, of which he
writes “ The interior could be seen from end to end, for the slight vestiges of
separation for the different families occupying these houses did not intercept the
view.”

The numerous occupants of all ages used the large central space for their
daytime occupations, which included cooking over the central fire under the smoke-
hole, mat, net, and basket making, the reception of guests and the winter cere-
monial feasts and dances. In this space also many forms of food preservation
were carried on, as well as the making and drying of garments. Racks for drying
purposes were suspended by twisted withes from the roof-beams to economize
space. On the mainland, at Lillooet, for instance, a high scaffolding ran along
the wide central space on which food was stored. By the removal of the slight
partitions which separated the families these houses accommodated the guests,
numbering up to two or three hundred, when they gathered for the ceremonial
observances characteristic of their social organization.

The owner occupied the most desirable position at the rear of the house,
where wooden partitions were sometimes erected to shelter not only his family,
but to be made of use as dressing-rooms when ceremonies were in progress and
for the safe-keeping of ceremonial objects. “The other resident families occupied
each its allotted space, defined by low benches which ran round three sides of a
square, leaving all the occupants free to benefit by the central fire. “hese benches
were used for beds and for the storage of food; for chests containing clothing;
and for fishing and other implements, etc. As a rule privacy was wholly absent,
though partitions of cedar-bark matting were sometimes used. Captain Cook