The number of skins necessary to form a tent varies with the size
required. Generally as many as ten to fifteen are used, and such a tent
will accommodate a good sized family.
The hair is seldom removed from the skin, which is simply stretched as
it comes from the animal and freed from fat and fleshy particles. The
edges are trimmed and a sufficient number of skins are sewed together to
form a length for one side of the tent. The length of the individual
skins makes the height of the tent. A similar width is prepared for the
opposite side. The two pieces meet at the rear of the structure and are
there tied to the poles. A separate piece forms the door and may be
thrown one side when a person enters or goes out. The poles of the tent
are arranged as follows: Two pairs of poles are joined near the ends
with stout thongs and erected with the lower ends spread to the proper
width, forming the ends of the tent, on which the ridgepole is laid.
A single pole is now placed near each end of the ridgepole, resting on
the upright pairs, to prevent lateral motion. Two more such braces are
placed on each side and spread so as to give a somewhat rounded end to
the tent. Near the middle of the ridgepole is a pair of shorter poles
leaning against it to prevent the weight of the sides from bending the
ridgepole. It will be seen that eleven poles are necessary to support a
long tent, as the skins are very heavy. The skins and poles can be
transported when the umiak is able to carry them.
In case of continued rains the skins are placed so as nearly to meet
over the ridge and additional skins cover the space left between the
edges. When the tent is to be taken down the two widths are folded over,
each by itself, and then rolled into a compact bundle by beginning at
each end and folding toward the center, leaving sufficient space between
the rolls for a person to get his head and shoulders in. Two persons,
one for each roll, now assist the carrier, who kneels, bows his head,
and places the load on his head and shoulders. The two assist him to
rise and the heavy load is taken to the umiak and placed in the bottom
for ballast. The shorter poles are first laid in on the ribs of the boat
to keep the skins from the water should any seep through the seams.
The second bundle of tenting is laid on the first.
The tent of skins is the usual shelter during the season from the first
rain until a sufficient fall of snow occurs in the early winter from
which to construct an iglu gheak.
The interior of the skin tent is necessarily quite roomy on account of
the number of occupants. The farther end often has a stick of timber
laid across the floor, and behind this is the bedding for the owner, his
wives, and children. A man who is able to own a tent of this character
is also wealthy enough to have two or more wives. Along the remainder of
the sides within lie the other occupants, either in groups or singly,
depending on the degree of relationship existing between them. Guests
and others temporarily abiding with the host are assigned any portion of
the tent that the host may choose to select, usually, if great honor is
to be shown, the place lately occupied by himself. The central portion
is reserved for a fireplace for cooking and heating purposes. In this
structure is carried on all manner of work incidental to the season. The
tent is taken from place to place by means of the umiak when the food
supply of a locality is exhausted or another region promises greater
abundance.
All these summer occupations require a number of persons to successfully
prosecute them, hence the number dwelling in one tent is not often
detrimental, as the adults walk along the shore to drag the boat or
relieve it from their weight.
The owner of a tent is considered an important individual, and his favor
is retained by every means. A period of illness may cause him to lose
all his belongings and then on recovery he has to start life anew.
Several seasons may elapse before a sufficient number of skins will be
procured for him to make a tent, and this is immovable without a boat to
transport it, for when a sled might be used for that purpose there is
always enough snow from which to erect a shelter.
During the winter the skins are stored away on posts erected for the
purpose, or on piles of rocks where the various species of small animals
will not destroy them by eating holes in the oily skin. Mice and ermines
are very destructive to these skins, often causing sad havoc in a short
time. By the spring the owner may be miles away from the scene of the
previous autumnal hunt and be unable to go after the tent, which, with
the summer rain and decay, becomes useless, imposing the severe task of
collecting skins for a second tent.
In former times these people inhabited permanent winter houses like
those used by the Eskimo elsewhere, as is shown by the ruins of sod and
stone houses to be seen in various parts of the country. These appear to
have had walls of stone built up to support the roof timbers, with the
interstices filled up with turf or earth. From the depression remaining
in the inside of these ruins, the floor seems to have been excavated to
a greater or less depth.
The present inhabitants relate that their ancestors dwelt in these huts,
but can not explain why they were deserted, or why such structures are
not erected at the present day.