244 TCHEITCHETs^GUAK "AT HOME." 



very niiicli as a prairie-dog would do in the loose soil, 

 — digging down into the drift, and tossing the lumps 

 behind him with great rapidity. After going downward 

 for about five feet, he ran off horizontally for about 

 ten feet more. This operation completed, he now 

 began to excavate his den. His shovel was struck 

 into the hard snow above his head, the blocks which 

 tumbled down were cleared away, and thrown out 

 into the open air, and in a little while he could stand 

 upright and work ; and when at length satisfied with 

 the size of the cave, he smoothed it off all around and 

 overhead, and came out covered with whiteness. The 

 door-way was now fixed up and made just large 

 enough to crawl through on all fours ; the entering 

 tunnel was smoothed off like the inside ; the floor of 

 the cave was covered first with a layer of stones, and 

 then with several layers of reindeer-skins ; the walls 

 were hung with the same materials ; two native lamps 

 were lighted ; across the door-way was suspended 

 another deer-skin, and Tcheitchenguak and his family 

 were "at home." I called upon them some hours 

 afterwards, and found them apparently warm and 

 comfortable. The lamps (their only fire) blazed up 

 cheerfully, and the light glistened on the white dome 

 of this novel den ; the temperature had risen to the 

 freezing point, and Kablunet, like a good housewife, 

 was stitching away at some article of clothing ; 

 Tcheitchenguak was repairing a harpoon for his son- 

 in-law, and Angeit, the bright-eyed pest of the galley 

 and the pantry, was busily engaged stowing away in a 

 stomach largely disproportionate to the balance of his 

 body, some bits of venison which looked very much as 

 as if they had recently been surreptitiously obtained 

 from a forbidden corner of the steward's store-room. 



