April, i 859. SNO IV HUTS OF NA TIVES. 2 1 9 



with reindeer skins, and formed the family place of repose. 

 An angular snow bench served as the kitchen table, and 



e/VTRAn/cc. 



Plan of the Snow Huts. 



immediately beside it sat the lady of the establishment 

 attending the stone lamp which stood thereon, and the stone 

 cooking vessel suspended over it. The lamp was a shallow 

 open vessel, the fuel seal oil, and the wick dried moss. Her 

 " tinder box " was a little seal-skin bag of soft dry moss, and 

 with a lump of iron pyrites and a broken file she struck fire 

 upon it. I purchased the file because it was marked with 

 the Government broad arrow. 



We saw two large snow shovels made of mahogany board, 

 some long spear handles, a bow of English wood, two pre- 

 served meat tins, and a deal case which might have once 

 contained a large telescope or a barometer ; it measured 

 3 feet 1 inch in length by 9 inches wide and 3^ inches deep ; 

 there was no lid, but part of the brass hinges remained. 



I also purchased a knife which had some indistinct 

 markings on it such as ship's cutlasses or swords usually have ; 

 the man told us it had been picked up on the shore near 

 where a ship lay stranded ; that it was then about the length 



