NORTHERN OCEAN. 
167 
die is in univerfal ufe among all the tribes of this 1775. 
people. 
Their tents are made of parchment deer-fkins 
in the hair, and are pitched in a circular form, 
the fame as thofe of the Efquimaux in Hudfon’s 
Bay. Thefe tents are undoubtedly no more than 
their Summer habitations, for I faw the remains 
of two miferable hovels, which, from the fituati- 
on, the ftructure, and the vaft quantity of bones, 
old fhoes, {craps of fkins, and other rubbifh lying 
near them, had certainly been fome of their 
Winter retreats. Thefe houfes were fituated on 
the South fide of a hill; one half of them were 
under-ground, and the upper parts clofely fet 
round with poles, meeting at the top in a conical 
form, like their fummer-houfes or tents. Thefe 
tents when inhabited, had undoubtedly been co- 
vered with fkins; and in Winter entirely over- 
{pread with the {fnow-drift, which muft have great- 
ly contributed to their warmth. They were fo 
{mall, that they did not contain more than fix or 
eight perfons each; and even that number of any 
other people would have found them but mifera- 
ble habitations. 
Their houfehold furniture chiefly confifts of 
ftone kettles, and wooden troughs of various 
fizes ; alfo difhes, {coops, and fpoons, made of the 
buffalo or mufk-ox horns. Their kettles are 
formed of a pepper and falt coloured ftone; and 
though the texture appears to be very coarfe, and 
as porous as a drip-ftone, yet they are perfectly 
tight, 
July. 
