Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-04-07
aUpSok's BAY PEOPLE.
Family Life Of h Eskimo Who Dwell
Near the Great Inland Ocean.

wear inc Grent Inland ocean,
In the summer each family has its
oxn 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 tent made Of
sealskins with the hair scraped of, 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
sealskln. 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 docs not
seem either a 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 blubbcr, which give forth an odor
that Samson himself, with his hair at its
longest, could hardly wrestle with sue
cessfully, so overwhelming is its strength.
The winter habitations are made en-
.irely of snow, and are generally bailt
under the sheltering lee of a rock, in the
drift that a~ccumulates there. The build
ers begin by marking out on the snow a
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
shree to six feet long by a foot thick ard
high, from inside the circle they have
narkcd; then, placing the blocks around
the circle, they carry the walls up spir-
ally mot in tiers, until they meet in a
keystone above, ct a distance of aboct
nine feet from the excavated level of the
floor. The result is, except, Of course, as
70 color, the production of a 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 a win.
dow in lighting an interior that, although
stainless white at first, il coon blackened
by the ever smoking, evil smelling lamps
the inmates use.
The furniture of these human hives is
very simple, as may ! q readily supposed.
1t consistsp a bed pace or divan along
Che side Of the 'igloC,' opposite the door,
and two fireplaces, Une on either hand as
you enter. These are made of firmly
packed snow. and raised about three feet
above the floor, the diyan having its
outer edge faced with a pole to prevent
Il from crumbling away when Used as a
seat in the day time. The beds are made
up in the following manner; First, a
layer Of moss spread over the snow; next,
a layer Of sealskins; then a layer of bear
or deerskins, and finally the sleeping
bags, which resemble exaggerated pillow.
slips, only thai fur takes the place Of
linen, and the fur is double, so that 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
jeeps very comfortably. Up to the
age Of 10 the children share their
parents bag; after that they are pro.
@oted to having one of their own.
Their fires are nothing more than
lamps rudely fashioned out Of soapstone
and so arranged as 10 he self-supplying, u
mass of blubber being hung in such closs
proximity TO the flame that the fat is
converted into oil. which, dripping into
NE bowl below, is consumed By means
Of a 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 heat being OBJ
tanned in what we would consider q
satisfactory quantity. Just above
the lamps a sealskin is stretched TO
prevent the heat thawing the roof away,
o %precaution that seems hardly necessary.
seeing that the ordinary temperature Of
these snow huts is % dogs. at the roof
and "a dogs. at the level of the beds; in
other words, rom 8 to 8 dogs. below
freezing point.
In order to keep out az much cold as
possible, the d~oorways 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; don't
bump your head. u. Macdonald Oxley
n American Magazine.