te, their positions and lengths
being determined by the use of a long sapling. The interior area being
thus approximated, all the timbers are removed, and, guided only by the
eye, a rough circle is laid out, well within the area previously marked.
The ground within this circle is then scraped and dug out until a fairly
level floor is obtained, leaving a low bench of earth entirely or partly
around the interior. This bench is sometimes as much as a foot and a
half high on the high side of a slightly sloping site, but ordinarily it
is less than a foot. The object of this excavation is twofold--to make
a level floor with a corresponding increase in the height of the
structure, and to afford a bench on which the many small articles
constituting the domestic paraphernalia can be set aside and thus avoid
littering the floor.

The north and south timbers are the first to be placed, and each is
handled by a number of men, usually four or five, who set the butt ends
firmly in the ground on opposite sides at the points previously marked
and lower the timbers to a slanting position until the forks lock
together. While some of the men hold these timbers in place others set
the west timber on the western side of the circle, placing it in such a
position and in such a manner that its fork receives the other two and
the whole structure is bound together at the top. The forked apex of the
frame is 6 to 8 feet above the ground in ordinary hogans, but on the
high plateaus and among the pine forests in the mountain districts
hogans of this type, but intended for ceremonial purposes, are sometimes
constructed with an interior height of 10 or 11 feet, and inclose an
area 25 to 30 feet in diameter. Following is a list of measurements of
four typical hogans:

_Measurements of typical hogans_

+-------+-------+-------+-------+
|Ft. in.|Ft. in.|Ft. in.|Ft. in.|
+-----------------+---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
|Door frame |Height | 3 8 | 4 0 | 4 0 | 3 6 |
| |Width | 3 8 | 1 8 | 1 6 | 1 9 |
+-----------------+---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
|Interior |North & south |17 10 |12 8 |14 9 |14 5 |
| |East & west |18 0 |12 0 |15 0 |14 0 |
+-----------------+---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
|Height under apex