The height of the houses in general, from the ground to the centre of the roof, does not exceed ten feet, that of Maquina's was not far from fourteen; the spar forming the ridge-pole of the latter was painted in red and black circles alternately, by way of ornament, and the large posts that supported it had their tops curiously wrought or carved, so as to represent human heads of a monstrous size, which were painted in their manner. These were not, however, considered as objects of adoration, but merely as ornaments.[66] The furniture of these people is very simple, and consists only of boxes, in which they put their clothes, furs, and such things as they hold most valuable; tubs for keeping their provisions of spawn and blubber in; trays from which they eat; baskets for their dried fish and other purposes, and bags made of bark matting, of which they also make their beds, spreading a piece of it upon the ground when they lie down, and using no other bed covering than their garments. The boxes are of pine, with a top that shuts over, and instead of nails or pegs, are fastened with flexible twigs; they are extremely smooth and high polished, and sometimes ornamented with rows of very small white shells. The tubs are of a square form, secured in the like manner, and of various sizes, some being extremely large, having seen them that were six feet long by four broad and five deep. The trays are hollowed out with their chisels from a solid block of wood, and the baskets and mats are made from the bark of trees. From bark they likewise make the cloth for their garments, in the following manner:--A quantity of this bark is taken and put into fresh water, where it is kept for a fortnight, to give it time to completely soften; it is then taken out and beaten upon a plank, with an instrument made of bone, or some very hard wood, having grooves or hollows on one side of it, care being taken to keep the mass constantly moistened with water, in order to separate, with more ease, the hard and woody from the soft and fibrous parts, which, when completed, they parcel out into skeins, like thread. These they lay in the air to bleach, and afterwards dye them black or red, as suits their fancies, their natural colour being a pale yellow. In order to form the cloth, the women, by whom the whole of this process is performed, take a certain number of these skeins and twist them together, by rolling them with their hands upon their knees into hard rolls, which are afterwards connected by means of a strong thread, made for the purpose. [Illustration: INTERIOR OF A HABITATION IN NOOTKA SOUND.] Their dress usually consists of but a single garment, which is a loose cloak or mantle (called _kutsack_) in one piece, reaching nearly to the feet. This is tied loosely over the right or left shoulder, so as to leave the arms at full liberty.