Prof. Otis T. Mason, the Curator of the
Department of Ethnology says to a Star
reporter that modern honse-buildng or
architecture has not been developed from
one point. There were, he said, several
different starting points, the cave, the
hut, the tent. Savage or primitive, peo
ple seek shelter either from the san or
from cold. If they live in a treeless
country it is likely their house will be a
cave or a tent of skins. If trees are
abundant they will construct a hut of
boughs. All the characteristic forms of
architecture are traced back to these
simple beginnings. The columns of an
Egyptian temple are but imitation of
Nile reeds tied in a bundle, and their
walls imitation of plated mats. From
the tent has come the dome, and the
graceful Dorm column was derived from
the trunk of a tiee used as the corner
post of a honse. Many untutored peo
ple have shown much ingenuity in their
house-building.
Among the most interesting of the
dwellings constructed by savage people
is the snow-hut of the Eskimo. There
are two models of snow huts in the
National Museum, which have a peculiar
interest because they were made by Dr.
Kane s Eskimo. Joe. One of them gives
a sectional view showing the manner of
construction. These dome shaped huts
are constructed entirely of blocks of
packed snow, with a window or skylight
in the top formed of a block or slab of
transparent ice. The Eskimo gets access
to his hnt by creeping through a low
passage. The interior is a email circular
apartment with an arched roof. Gener
ally there are three similar huts or com
partments communicating by means of
low doorways with this main apartment.
