122 J. C. SCHULTZ ON THE 



birds are laid under contribution, and sahnon trout and fisli of various kinds are taken. In 

 this way part of a winter stock of provisions is secured, and not a little is required, as the 

 Eskimos, being consuniers of animal food only, eat an immense quantity. In tlie autumn 

 the berries of tbe Empetnim nignan, Vacciniiim uliginosiun, Vitis-Idœa, Babvs Chamœ- 

 morus and Arciicns, and a few other arctic fruit-bearing plants are eaten, and the half 

 digested lichens in the paunch of the reindeer are considered to be a treat ; but in other 

 seasons these people never taste vegetables, and even in the summer animal food alone is 

 deemed essential. Carlson is supplied to the system by the use of much oil and fat in the 

 diet, and draughts of blood from a newly-killed animal are considered as contributing greatly 

 to preserve the hunter in health. No part of the entrails is rejected as uniit for food, little 

 cleanliness is shown in the preparation of the intestines, and when they are rendered crisp 

 by frost they are eaten as delicacies without cooking. 



In the construction of their dwellings the Eskimo have to vary the materials and shape 

 according to their location in the widely extended area which they occupy. When drift- 

 wood is to be found they make free use of it, as well as of sods and willows for wattling ; on 

 boulder-strewn coasts they have to adapt themselves to their building material, and it is only 

 when neither are available, or when the hunt has detained them in a new location till too 

 late to use either, that the snow house is built, so that the following description of their 

 methods must be understood as onl}- ^applying to certain portions of the coast they 

 frequent : 



In their thickest and most permanent settlements the houses are about twelve feet 

 wide and from twenty-five to seventy feet long, according to the number of families who 

 are to occupy them, and just high enough to allow a man to stand upright. These 

 permanent buildings are not built underground, as is often supposed, but on rising ground, 

 and, if possible, on a steep rock, that the snow water may run off the better. The walls are 

 constructed of large stones six feet wide, with layers of sod and earth between, and on these 

 walls they lay the beam, which is the length of the house, and if one is not long enough 

 they splice two, three or four together with leather cords and support them by posts. They 

 throw poles and smaller timber across, cover them with wattling and sods, and spread fine 

 earth over the whole. This roof stands as long as frost continues, but in the summer it is 

 washed in by the rain and must be repaired, together with the walls, in the autumn. As 

 they derive their support from the sea, they never build at any distance from it, and the 

 entrances of their houses face the shore. They have neither doors nor chimneys, but in place 

 of both there is an arched entrance built of earth and stone, twenty-five or thirty feet long, 

 and so low, particularl}' at the extremities, that it is necessary not only to stoop, but almost 

 to creep through the passage. This long tunnel serves admirably to keep out the wind and 

 snow, and the heavy air (there is no smoke) finds egress through it. The walls are hung 

 on the inside with the skin coverings of old tents and boats, fastened with nails of seal 

 bones, by which means the moisture is kept out ; the roof is often covered on the outside 

 with the same materials. Half the area from the centre of the house to the back wall is 

 occupied by a floor or platform al)out a foot high, covered with skins. This platform is 

 divided into several compartments by means of skins stretched from the pillars which 

 support the roof to the wall. From three to ten families occupy one house, and each family 

 has a compartment. There they sleep wrapped in skins, and there they sit in the day time, 

 the men usually in front sitting on the edge of the platform, and the women sitting behind 



