366 VOYAGE TO THE 



had nothing curious to part with, an old man pro- 

 duced a tambourine, and seating himself upon the 



A i826 St ' ro °f °f one °f tne m i sera ble hovels, threw his legs 

 across, and commenced a song, accompanying it 

 with the tambourine, with as much apparent happi- 

 ness as if fortune had imparted to him every luxury 

 of life. The vivacity and humour of the musician 

 inspired two of the old hags, who joined chorus, and 

 threw themselves into a variety of attitudes, twist- 

 ing their bodies, snapping their fingers, and smirk- 

 ing from behind their seal-skin hoods, with as much 

 shrewd meaning as if they had been half a century 

 younger. Several little chubby girls, roused by the 

 music, came blinking at the daylight through the 

 greasy roofs of the subterranean abodes, and joined 

 the performance ; and we had the satisfaction of 

 seeing a set of people happy who did not appear to 

 possess a single comfort upon earth. 



The village consisted of a number of " yourts" 

 excavated in a ridge of mud and gravel, which had 

 been heaped up in a parallel line with the beach. 

 Their construction more nearly approached to the 

 habitations of the Tschutschi than those of the 

 Esquimaux of Greenland. They consisted of two 

 pits about eight feet deep, communicating by a 

 door at the bottom. The inner one had a dome- 

 shaped roof, made with dry wood or bones ; it was 

 covered with turf, and rose about four feet above 

 the surface of the earth. In the centre of this there 

 was a circular hole or window, covered with a piece 

 of skin (part of the intestine of the whale), which 

 gave, however, but very little light. The outer pit 

 had a flat roof, and was entered by a square hole, 

 over which there was a shed to protect it from the 



