covering. Usually the larger timbers are roughly dressed on the sides
toward the interior of the hut, and the smaller poles also are stripped
of bark and rough hewn.

The entire structure is next covered with cedar bark; all the
interstices are filled with it, and an upper or final layer is spread
with some regularity and smoothness. Earth is then thrown on from base
to apex to a thickness of about six inches, but enough is put on to make
the hut perfectly wind and water proof. This operation finishes the
house, and usually there are enough volunteers to complete the work
in a day.

It is customary to make a kind of recess on the western side of the
hut by setting out the base of the poles next to the west timber some
8 to 15 inches beyond the line. This arrangement is usually placed next
to and on the south side of the west timber, and all the poles for a
distance of 3 or 4 feet are set out. The offset thus formed is called
the “mask recess,” and when a religious ceremony is performed in the
hogán, the shaman or medicine-man hangs a skin or cloth before it and
deposits there his masks and fetiches. This recess, of greater or less
dimensions, is made in every large hogán, but in many of the smaller
ones it is omitted. Its position and general character are shown in
the ground plan, plate XC. In the construction of a hogán all the
proceedings are conducted on a definite, predetermined plan, and the
order sketched above is that ordinarily followed, but nothing of a
ceremonial nature is introduced until after the conclusion of the work
of construction.


SUMMER HUTS OR SHELTERS