ABSTRACT
The variety of Eskimo tents is in marked contrast with the uniformity of Eskimo language and culture. The forms of Eskimo tents can scarcely be explained by referring to geographical factors alone, for they are clearly related to comparable types in Eurasia and in other parts of America. In common with the eastern sub-type, the western conical tent and unlike the American Indian tepee, it has no smoke hole. The conical tent is a circumpolar trait found in the boreal areas of both North America and Eurasia. Kaj Birket-Smith noted that 'a line seems to run directly from the American to the Asiatic forms of the same type, just as must be presumed with respect to the ridge tent'. The 19th century conical tent was dispersed throughout North America except for areas lying to the southeast of the Great Lakes and Mississippi where it is noticeably absent.
