HABITATIONS. 143

fact that the explorer goes on to speak of arrow holes on the sides of the
lodge may account for its peculiar construction and height, as it was evidently
built to withstand an attack.

Much simpler than all the above are the habitations of the Tscetsaut.
They are mere bark shelters leaning against large trees and formed by two
forked poles, perhaps seven feet long, connected by cross-sticks. The fire-
place is at the foot of the tree. Should two families wish to live together,
two of these structures are joined in such a way that they stand end to end,
though the roof of one side is made to overlap that of the other, as seen
in fig. 15. Such huts have a door on each vertical side.

Fig. 15.

Before proceeding further, it may be noted that, in common with the
nomadic Tatars, the western Dénés almost invariably have the doors of their
permanent dwellings face the south. Their villages are always on the north
side of the lakes they may be situated on.

Summer Houses in the South.

As to the houses of the Hupas, they bear some resemblance to the
summer or ceremonial lodges of the Carriers: the same low walls of rough
boards, the same round hole cut for a doorway at the gable end as I have
seen in some villages of that tribe, though the entrance was often rectangular
in shape. But among the Hupas the roof is a double planking, and in houses
of some pretensions this is built in three sections, that is, with an upper
part quite flat and horizontal, flanked on either side with the usual sloping
roofs. These dwellings have also a sort of vestibule made by the addition of
a second wall across the front end, perhaps three feet from the outer one.

In the main dwelling a place is excavated in the centre twelve feet
Square by about five in depth, which constitutes the principal room, to which
access is had by means of a stout board in which steps have been cut. As
usual, the fire is in the middle, with a corresponding aperture in the roof for
the smoke to escape.