40 8 Ohfer vat tons on the PraBia Odi. 



fuch alleviation can, however, be produced. When ufed for 

 cottages, the wretched hovels, conftru£l:ed with feal, exhibit 

 an appearance impreflive of nothing but mifery in the ex- 

 treme ; nor is their interior more comfortable. Perhaps, none, 

 but thofe who have feen thefe cottages, v/ould credit the de- 

 fcription : taken altogether, they convey an idea of dirt and 

 wretchednefs, little ihort of what is met with in the caves 

 and earthen hovels of the Efquimeaux. The walls abound 

 with infedls and vermin of every dcfcriptlon ; and, by con- 

 tinually crumbling down, keep every part of the hut covered 

 with duft, and give it a mod intolerable fmell. The appear- 

 ance, by fire or candle-light, is of the gloomieft nature, and 

 fuch as it is impofiible to affbciate a fingle idea of comfort 

 with. This is the cafe, only where the walls are made of 

 turf. When the roof is conftrudied of the fame materials, 

 ttic matter is flill v/orfe ; for, along with the circumllance of 

 its being unable to defend even a flight {hower, the inhabit- 

 ants are annoyed with vermin, and bits of the decayed foil, 

 perpetually dropping down upon their perfons, their beds, 

 and even into their viciuals. It will, no doubt, be obferved, 

 that cuftom has reconciled them to fuch habitations, and that 

 they do not feel thefe uncomfortable circumflances in the 

 fame degree with people who have lived in cleaner houfCvS 

 from their infancy. Good and bad are,, no doubt, compara- 

 tive ideas 5 and the mind, accuftomed only to a habitation 

 capable of affording fhelter from the inclemency of the wea- 

 ther, does not, without having feen fomething better, carry 

 its ideas beyond it. Thfs, certainly, is the cafe with the in- 

 habitants of the north, in their early years, and while they 

 remain in their native diftrifts ; but, when they grow up in 

 life, and vlfit other parts, they appear fully fenfible of the 

 comfort of clean warm habitations, and, on many occafions, 

 exprefs a lively regret at the comparifon between their own 

 wretched hovels, and the clean comfortable cottages met with 

 in the fouth. 



Where the happlnefs and comfort of that numerous and va- 

 luable clafs of men are confidered as obje£ls worth attending 

 to, (and humanity, as well as found policy, require that they 

 fhould have every pofTible pains bellowed upon them), the 

 circumftances mentioned cannot fail ferioufly to imprefs every 

 humane proprietor. To fuch, the pleafures arifing from im- 

 proving the condition of 10 many of their fellow-creatures, 

 will be a rich gratification j but, vv'hen that is coupled with 

 motives of a difl'erent nature, immediately connected with 



their 



