Arizona weekly enterprise., 1888-06-16
HUDSON'S BAY PEOPLE.
Family Life of the Eskimo Who Dwell
 Rear the Great Inland Ocean.

Family Life of the Eskimo Who Dwell
 Rear 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. Tie summer residence is a 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 tke water by ssllose side they are camped, and at the opp ssse side of the tent is the bed, coInp of moss covered with sealskln. Aasfhey sleep with head point ing doorward they necessarily lie down hill, owing to the nalaral slope of the land toward the shore Tlsis docs not seem either comfortable e heastlsy DO sition, but apparently they ags fleae tie worse for it. On either side of ths GOT way is their larder, consisting Of exceeds ingly repulsive looking piles Of seai meat and blubber, which give forth an ss1or that Samson himself, with his hair at ita longest, could hardly wrestle with sue cessfully, so overwhelming is its strength
 The winter habitations are made en- tirely of snow, and are generally built under the sheltering lee of rock, in the drift that accumulates there. The build CTS begin by marking out on the snow circle about fifteen feet ill 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 foot thick and high, from inside the circle they have marked; then, placing the blocks around the circle, they carry the walls up spir. ally not in tiers), until they meet in q keystone above, at distance of about nine feet from the excavated level of the floor. The result is, except, of course, as to color, the production of gigantic bee hive, over the door or in the center of the roof of which is set big block of fresh water ice to serve the purpose of win dow in lighting an 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, as may be readily supposed. It consists of 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 above the floor, the divan having it's outer edge faced with pole to prevent 1t 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 layer of sealsiins; then 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 that there may be 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 to be self-supplying, q mass of blubber being hung in such close proximity to the flame that the fat is converted into oil, which, dripping into the bowl below, is constl1ned by means of moss wick. As the lamp has nc chimney, and both oil and wick are oi the poorest, the result Is the reverse oi brilliant, neither light nor heat being ob- tained in what we would consider z satisfactory quantity. Just above the lamps sealskin is stretched tc prevent the heat thawing the roof away precaution that seems hardly necessary seeing that the ordinary temperature O these snow huts is 27 degs. at the roo and 24 degs. at the level of the beds; il other words, from to degs. below 5 freezing point.
 In order to keep out as much cold a possible, the doorways are very low ant narrow, fact which explains the curiou phrase with which the hosts speed thei parting guests, namely: ''Tabourke aper niak in atit''-that is: 'sGood-by; don bump your head. "-J. Macdonald Oxle,
 in American Magazine.