RUINED ESQUIMAUX HUTS. 525 



We saw a herd of about fifteen stately reindeer grazing 

 at a little distance from us, but at our approach they 

 drew quietly off to the mountains. 



Except some hares sitting in the distance, and scarcely 

 to be distinguished from white stones, we saw one 

 solitary ptarmigan in its summer plumage. We now drew 

 very near to the spot where, forty-seven years before, a 

 small band of natives led a peaceful and contented life. 



Now we had reached the first hut : there was but an 

 empty room, on the floor of which grew high moss and 

 grass ; we hurried on to the next, — the same sight ; 

 a third lay a little on one side; here, too, the same 

 comfortless picture of desertion. 



With our minds somewhat disabused we laid down our 

 baggage, and examined them more closely. As we had 

 always previously found them, these huts lay in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the water. The two best-preserved were more 

 to the east, and a little farther on were two more, seemingly 

 older. These all had the same build, the same position, 

 and the same size, as those on Sabine and Pendulum 

 Island. There were also some well preserved tent-rings. 

 The round holes (Provision-magazines), too, were not 

 wanting; what struck us most, however, was the great 

 number of earth-holes round about the huts : they seemed 

 to be the last signs of the oldest buildings, and we 

 could distinctly trace the different stages of destruction. 

 In some might still be seen' the sharp four-cornered 

 deep hole with the open entrance tunnel, but the stone 

 walls were quite wanting. From this we concluded that 

 the Esquimaux, when their huts were dilapidated, or 

 from any other cause no longer suited them, built fresh 

 ones, using the old stones. How else could the walls of 



