34 XATllJAL HISTORY OV AHCTIC AMTJMCA. 



"Nvay (the skins ol" j»jc;;ii;uit rcinalcs and tliosc sncl<lin;x youn^' aiv the 

 best), they sjilil tlic skins, or rather removo a nicmljraue that li«'S he- 

 tweoii tlie bhiblx'r and the skin pr()i)er. Tlie sijlittin;; is done witli the 

 woman's knife. The skin is hiid upon a thit surface and the knife pushed 

 away from the oi)erator. When the mamma is removed from the skin it 

 is treated in the same manner as tlie skins, stretched, and dried in the 

 sun. It is toujih and transi)arent, and, bcinj,^ very oily, <loes not easily 

 get saturated with water. 



When the toopik is about to be raised, the skin covering' is first 

 stretched out ui)on the rock, and the poles are ]>nslied underneath, an<l 

 then raised up, stretching the cover as tightly on the poles as possible. 

 The too])ik is carried with them when they go hunting in summer. 



Such habitations are of variable dimensions, regulated by the number 

 of occupants somewhat, but more by the industry of the hunter and the 

 economy of his wife, for the skins need repairing very often; and, as a 

 consequence, many of the more shiftless natives have extremely i)oor 

 shelters, ])atehed up with dog and bear skin and old cast-away pieces of 

 canvas, wliieh they have paid well for in serviceable seal-skins. 



Their greatest concern is to procure the ])oles. At present many get 

 broken oars, lancc-poles, &c., from the whalers; but still, ingeniously 

 lashed together, bone sui)i)orts for the tent are yet found among them. 

 The inside arrangement of the toopik does not differ essentially from 

 that of the igloo, except it may be a little nastier as a rule and smell a 

 trifle stronger. Sometimes whale-ribs are made use of instead of poles, 

 and are very ingeniously lashed together. These were more in vogue 

 formerly, before they could procure ])oles from the thips. 



We think they wei-e ])erhai)s less nomadic in i>ast times, as there are 

 still extant sod foundations, which were no donltt used as ])erniuneiil 

 abodes. 



At the present <lay, so many of the Cumbciland Ivsjcimo have ]>ro- 

 cured some kind of iirearms that their iirimitive modes of hunting and 

 theii' Ininting implements have, to a great measure, been modi(ie<l, and 

 even in some instances altogether lost. Bows and arrows are fa,st be- 

 coming an institution of the past; they do not now rely on them for 

 killing reindeer as they did at one time. Bows and arrows are found 

 around the settlements, broken and out of re]»air: the arrows, of differ- 

 ent kin<ls, lying about unused, or doing service as some other tool. The 

 children all have bows and arrows; Ijut they sehlom kill larger game 

 than snowbirds and lennnini^s. 



