IF the reader has ever built little log-cabin traps he knows just how to
build a Navajo hogan or at least the particular Navajo hogan shown by
Figs. 148 and 150. This one is six-sided and may be improved by notching
the logs (Figs. 162, 164, 165) and building them up one on top of the
other, dome-shaped, to the required height. After laying some rafters for
the roof and leaving a hole for the chimney the frame is complete. In hot
countries no chimney hole is left in the roof, because the people there do
not build fires inside the house; they go indoors to keep cool and not to
get warm; but the Navajo hogan also makes a good cold-country house in
places where people really need a fire. Make the doorway by leaving an
opening (Fig. 150) and chinking the logs along the opening to hold them in
place until the door-jamb is nailed or pegged to them, and then build a
shed entranceway (Fig. 153), which is necessary because the slanting sides
of the house with an unroofed doorway have no protection against the free
entrance of dust and rain or snow, and every section of this country is
subject to visits from one of these elements. The house is covered with
brush, browse, or sod.