of the irregular
timbers are placed here and there around it, leaning against the beams.
They are roughly aligned, and some attempt is made to have the sides of
the same slope. The floor area thus determined, the outer edge of which
would fall 4 to 6 feet outside the posts, is then lightly dug over to
remove all irregularities, and is made as level as possible.

As in the ordinary hogan, the upright posts of the door-frame are set
near the lower ends of the doorway timbers, and the roof and sides of
the doorway are covered in when the sides of the hut are inclosed, which
is the next step in the construction. Small tree trunks and timbers are
placed closely around the excavated floor area, with their upper ends
leaning against the roof beams. They are not set very regularly and
boughs are often used to fill the larger crevices, while the corners are
turned in a clumsy manner, with the tops of the timbers overlapping
each other, while the butts diverge in a haphazard curve.

The roof is laid with smaller timbers, the longest resting on the
smoke-hole timber and the western beam, while the shorter pieces span
the smaller interval from the former timber to the eastern beam. The
arrangement of the smoke exit differs from that of the ordinary hogan.
In the latter an open space is left between the doorway timbers at their
upper ends; in the _iyacaskuni_ the doorway roof is continued up to the
eastern beam, which forms the eastern side of the smoke hole. This hole
is in the main roof, in line with the doorway but just beyond the ends
of its timbers, and it is usually about 3 feet square. Figure 242
is an interior view of the frame, looking outward. The structure is
finished like the hogans; the frame is covered by heavy layers of cedar
or juniper bark over the sides and roof, and finally with a deep
covering of earth packed firmly over the whole exterior. The door frame
is usually about 4 feet high and 2-1/2 feet wide; the roof is about 7
feet high in the interior, and the floor area measures roughly 20 feet
square, with the four posts standing about 5 feet from the base of the
sides. Figure 243 shows some actual measurements.

[Illustration: Fig. 242--Framework of Yeb[)i]tcai house]

While the _Yeb[)i]tcai_ ceremony is in progress the hut is occupied by
the _qacal'i_ and his assistants and by the young men who assume the
sacred masks and personate the various deities in the nightly dances. In
the mornings the _qacal'i_ s