The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-03-15

ns easily mistaken for a small hil1ocI-
IN, me only light and ventilation is by a
Heeie opening at the top which is nro
M py a curtain made Of fish skin.
Inc internal arrangement varies in
Inherent places in respect to details
put the main features ere the same.
around three sides of the interior a
Dank of earth is left, which extends
lke broad step or divan. On this
the natives sit in their customary
squatting position.
Some casinos have a second and mar
ROVER dlVan, extending from the wall
ABOVE the other. On extraordinary &C.
oasions a third one is added. This js
formed of three little fiat sleds called
Kamegatek. A line of these kamega-
teks suspended from the roof by skin
ropes will extend all around the casino.
mus space is economical and a large
number of persons accommodated. On
the fourth side of the casino the main
alNan extends only a short distance
from the corners, leaving free the
middle portion where the entrance is
situated. In the center of the floor is
large, square pit, covered with logs.
In This pit large fire is built.
A PECULIAR ENTRANCE.
The casino has no door in our sense
OF the word. The following ingenious
there is little structure which serves
as vestibule. This has a large hole
IN the door, and from the bottom If
this hole or shaft, extends a tunnel.
which terminates in the fire pit of the
casino. "A person desiring to enter a
casino goes into the vestibule, iumps
down into the hole, and then crawIs
along the tunnel until he reaches a
corresponding hole in the floor of ,t-be
70 10
Who fails to emerge as soon as This
hole rs reached, for should he proceed
any further he would discover that
the short section of the tunnel which
remains between this exit and the fire
pit is the sink
Crawling along in the dark, slippery
tunnel is not a graceful proceeding and
this bobbing up from the hole is de-
cldedIy an abrupt manner of making
ones appearance in society The de-
parture is fully as Iudicrous The soft
boots and fur clothing make no rust
ing, and you behold the inmates dis
appear instantly and silently through
the floor, after the fashion of imps in
pantomlme The interior of the cas-
inc is always gloomy; the sides and
roof are blackened with smoke and
covered thickly with SCOT.
THE NATIVE HOUSE.
The women and children seldom visit
the casino for the reason that the first
thing a man does on entering is to re-
move his clothing, hang it up near
the fire, where it gets a kind of vapor
bath, and while it is drying he re-
clines ON one of the divans The odor
in this place would kill the average
citizen of the United States quicker
than the electrical death chair.
The baTrd bOraS Or Tlriva+a I,o,,eo-
are constructed on the same general
plan as the casino. They aresomewhat
smaller, and have only one very broad
divan around; as they are never used
for the vapor bath, they are without
the fire hole. Several families generally
occupy the same barrabora. Sections
of the divan are allotted to each. and
these are frequently curtained off by
large straw mats called tupigak. These
strips of straw carpet are beautifully
woven by the women, and resemble the
mating commonly used in the United
States
Mining for gold in Alaska is not the
easiest thing in the world. The country
is almost barren of machinery. owing
to the difficulties of transportation.
The miners, during the winter light
large fires over the surface that thew
desire to dig and tha;w out the ground
to certain extent in this way They
then remove the earth until they get
down to the frozen ground again. and
then the build another fire, and so
on. When the spring freshets come
they have water enough to wash out
the loose, auriferous earth they have
OBTAINED in this arduous way.