HABITATIONS. 147

These subterranean huts were quite warm, but somewhat malodorous. The
natives occupied them from October-November to some time in April or May.
The reader no doubt recognizes in the middle of fig. 17 the typical Indian ladder,
a notched log, which served as a means of communication with the outsidet.

Strange enough, the Loucheux of the lower Mackenzie, whose habitat
is no less than fifteen degrees of latitude north of the Chilcotin territory,
instead of burrowing in the earth as the latter or in the snow as the Eskimos,
dwell in mere tents, even during their long and exceptionally severe winters.
And yet they manage to keep but a very small fire in the centre of their
tents or lodges, and the resulting warmth is as great asin a log house. The
beautiful coloured illustration, which I reproduce from Richardson, gives an
excellent idea of these lodges, which, to quote that author, “resemble the
Eskimo snow huts in shape, and also the yourts of the Asiatic Anadyrski” ?.

He might have added that they are not without analogy with the
Mongolian tents, which likewise affect a cylindrical form, with a roof like a
truncated cone. To complete the similarity, according to the abbé Huc, who
lived in them, “des barres de bois partent de la circonférence conique et
vont se réunir au sommet, a peu prés comme les baguettes d’un parapluie. . .
La porte est basse, étroite... Outre la porte, il y a une autre ouverture
pratiquée au-dessus du céne. C’est par 1a que s’échappe la fumée?.

A glance at Richardson’s (or rather A. H. Murray’s) picture of the
Loucheux tent will suffice to notice its Mongolian appearance. It is of deer
skin with the hair on, extended over flexible willow poles, which are bent
so as to give it a semi-spherical shape. They follow the hunter in his many
peregrinations. To erect such a tent, the ground is first cleared of snow,
some of which is afterwards packed on the outside to half its height, while
the corresponding inside parts are lined with spruce spray to prevent contact
with the cold wall. The doorway is closed by a double fold of skin.

For the sake of greater com-
fort these tents are usually erected
within groves of spruce trees, in
the branches of which are cached
most of the family provisions and
impedimenta.

In Alaska, or at least on the
lower Yukon, the Loucheux would
seem to have adopted for winter

* Both the subterranean hut and the notched log ladder have their counterparts in
eastern Siberia (Cf. Bush, “Reindeer, Dogs, and Snow-Shoes”, pp. 103; 351—52). The general
features of the Déné habitations: fire-place in the middle, with a corresponding hole in the
roof for the escape of the smoke, and beddings of evergreen boughs covered with skins, are
also to be found there (/bid., pp. 123; 136; 227, and passim).

> “Arctic Searching Exploration”, vol. I, p. 393.

* “Souvenirs d'un Voyage dans la Tartarie”, vol. 1, p. 62.
10*