, 1888-02-24
HuosoN's BAY PEOPLE.
Faraily Lifo of the Eskimo who Dwell
Near the Great Inland Ocean.


FaraiIy Lifo of the Eskimo Who Dwell
Near the Great Inland Ocean.
In the summer each family has its
own home, but in winter two or more
families live together for the sake of in
creased warmth and economy of fuel.
The summer residence is a tent made of
sealskins with the hair scraped off, giving
much the appearance of yellowish parch-
ment, which is stretched over poles of
driftwood arranged in the ordinary cone
shape. The door always faces toward
the water by whose side they are camped,
and at the opposite side of the tent is the
bed, composed of moss covered with
sealskin. As they sleep with head point
ing doorward, they necessarily lie down
hill, owing to the natural slope of the
land toward the shore. This does not
seem either n comfortable or healthy po-
sition, but apparently they are none the
worse for it. On either side of the door
way is their larder, consisting of exceed
ingly repulsive looking piles of seal meat
and blubber, which give forth an odor
that Samson himself, with his hair at its
longest, coulA hardly wrestle with sue
c~essfully, so Overwhelming is its strength.
The winterf habitations are made en-
tirely of snow, and are generally built
under the sheltering lee of a rock, in the
drift that accumulates there. The build.
ers begin by marking out on the snow n
circle about fifteen feet in diameter,
which represents the inner side of the
walls, and with a saw or long bladed
knife they cut out blocks of snow, from
three to six feet long by a foot thick and
high, from inside the circle they nave
marked; then, placing the blocks around
the circle, they carry the walls up spir.
ally mot in tiers, until they meet in n
keystone above, at n distance of about
nine feet from the excavated level of the
floor. The result is, except, of course, as
to color, the production of n gigantic bee
hive, over the door or in the center Of the
roof of which is set a big block of fresh
water ice to serve the purpose of n win
dow in lighting nm interior that, although
stainless white at first, is soon blackened
by the ever smoking, evil smelling lamps
the inmates use.
The furniture of these human hives is
very simple. rs may be readily supposed.
1t consists of n bed place or divan along
the side of the 'igloo," opposite the door,
and two fireplaces, one on either hand as
you enter. These are made of firmly
packed snow, and raised about three feet
~ VIZ AttA III "a III ing IL
outer edge faced with n pole to prevent
it from crumbling away when used MS a
seat in the day time. The beds are made
up in the following manner; First, n
layer of moss spread over the snow; next,
n layer of sealskins; then a layer of bear
or deerskins, and finally the sleeping
bags, which resemble exaggerated pillow
slips, only that fur takes the place of
linen, and the fur is double, so hat there
may he hair both inside and outside.
Into these bags, of which each adult has
one, the Eskimo, stripped to the bare
buff, creeps for the night, and
sleeps very comfortably. Up to the
age of 10 the children share their
parents bag; after that they are pro
NOTED to having one of their own.
Their fires are nothing more than
lamps rudely fashioned out Of soapstone,
and so arranged as 10 be self-supplying. a
mass of blubber being hung in such close
proximity TO the lame that the fat is
converted into oil, which, dripping into
the bowl below, is consumed by means
of n moss wick. AS the lamp has no
chimney, and both oil and wick are of
the poorest, the result is the reverse of
brilliant, neither light nor neat being OBJ
tanned in what we would consider n
satisfactory quantity. Just above
the lamps a sealskin is stretched to
prevent the heat thawing the roof away,
n ]precaution that seems hardly necessary.
seeing that the ordinary temperature of
these snow huts is 27 degs. at the roof
and "a degs. at the level of the beds; in
other words, from 5 to 8 dcgs. below
freezing point.
In order to keep out as much cold as
possible, the dOorways are very low and
narrow, a fact which explains the curious
phrase with which the hosts speed their
parting guests, namely ''Tabourke aper-
MAX in atit''-that is: ''Good-by; dom.
bump your head. y. Macdonald Oxley
in American Magazine.