CHAPTER VI.

TYPES OF TRIBAL DWELLINGS, THEIR FORM
AND STRUCTURE.

COMMUNAL PLANK HOUSES.

The large rectangular wooden houses, characteristic of the North-west Pacific
Coast, were well adapted to the climate and to the relatively settled lives of tribes,
whose surroundings supplied them with most necessaries in the way of food,
clothing, and fuel; advantages denied to many of the tribes of the Interior.

Various opinions are advanced on the origin of these plank houses, distin-
guished among the Haida and Tsimshian by their gabled roof, whereas in most
cases among the Kwakiutl, Nootka, and Salish the “shed” type was in use.
This cruder form of house was possibly brought to the Coast by the Salish when
they migrated thither from the Interior at an unknown date; though they so
rapidly acquired the use of planks from a people even then highly skilled in the
use of wood that their more primitive dwellings were rapidly modified.

SELECTION OF SITES.

These large communal houses, inhabited by several closely related families,
were built by. preference in one or more rows facing either the sea or river,
according to locality. “The ground in front was usually levelled, and the indis-
pensable canoes were close at hand, being pulled up above the tide-line on runways
on the shelving beach. ‘The sites selected for these villages were those offering
natural defensive positions on rocky steep-sided islands, or corresponding positions
on peninsulas to which ascent was difficult. Weak points were strengthened by
overhanging platforms or, in the case of a low-lying site, by a ditch (sometimes
containing hidden stakes), behind which was planted a solid row of high pickets.
Captain Vancouver and Alexander Mackenzie comment upon these “ forts”
which protected the heavily timbered houses.

Advantageous sites were not always available to the Coast Salish further
south, necessitating additional work to protect them from the periodical raids of
northern tribes. Examples of these artificial fortifications still survive on the
Saanich peninsula. At Deep Bay, for instance (in the vicinity of which evidence
exists of a large population in former days), the remains of an interesting “‘ earth-
work” are to be seen, with a parapet height of 22 feet, from the top of which
the approach of an enemy could be observed whether from north, east, or south.

METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION.

Three classes of foundation were in use. A Haida or [Tsimshian house would
be built on the surface of the ground; or, if the site were shelving, it would be
levelled either by a foundation of heavy cedar-trees or by means of a raised plat-
form; while a Kwakiutl and Bella Coola custom was to raise a house 30 feet
above the ground on “‘stilts” of stout logs, access being gained by means of a
rude ladder formed from a long tree, with notches cut by way of steps about
18 inches apart.

Five types of houses have been distinguished by experts; though these all bear
a fundamental resemblance in their method of construction, which combines an
independent framework and an outer covering or shell. “This framework lasted

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