198 BUILD AN OBSERVATORY. 



these people, they said they had formerly made 

 war, as well as on the Esquimaux at the mouth 

 of the Thlew-ee-choh. 



The work of building went on briskly, though 

 our substitute for mortar, clay and sand, froze as 

 fast as it was laid on. The observatory was soon 

 completed ; it was a square building twelve feet 

 inside, having a porch at the west with double 

 doors, the outer one of which opened south. 

 The roof was angular, and covered with rough 

 slabs of wood having the flat side down, and the 

 hollows on the outside were rilled up with a 

 mixture of clay, sand, and dry grass. It had four 

 windows of moose-skin parchment, with a small 

 pane of glass in each, facing respectively north, 

 south, east, and west. The space within was care- 

 fully cleared of all stones, and a thoroughly dried 

 trunk of a tree seven feet long, and two feet 

 and a half in diameter, was let down into a hole 

 three feet deep in the centre, and then rammed 

 tight by successive layers of clay and sand. 

 This part was cased in a square framework of 

 three feet, grooved and mortised ; and the interior 

 spaces were gradually rilled up with the same 

 composition as was used to plaster the walls. 

 When the plaster was quite dry, a square thick 

 board was mortised on the post, and the whole 

 fabric was as firm as a rock. The floor was 

 planked, and when the doors were closed, the 



