NATIVE AVINTER DWELLINGS. 327 



on the hill near, wishing to take a last look of us, and 

 learn if we wanted any further assistance ; for these 

 purposes he had walked a considerable distance from 

 his vessel, which was still icelocked. In the evening 

 I went on shore to obtain some rope of seal or walrus 

 hide, which I knew would be valuable for towdng the 

 boats. I was perfectly unarmed, and had some distance 

 to walk to the village, but met only with the most 

 friendly demonstrations. I took a good visual survey 

 of the place, wdiich appeared to be a considerable and 

 important settlement. The winter dwellings were 

 about thirty in number, and apparently partly made 

 by excavation in the soil, some square or oblong in 

 shape with flattish roofs, others round and arched ; 

 they averaged about five feet from the ground. 1 could 

 not help thinking that these must be what Simpson in 

 his narrative mistook for " numerous mounds of earth, 

 forced up by the pressure of the ice, which look, at a 

 distance, like gigantic boulders." They have much 

 of that appearance, and I coincided with his belief, 

 until I had a tolerably near inspection, which made 

 me pretty confident that such mounds do not exist, 

 and these dwellings seem too far distant from the sea to 

 be in danger from ice. The summer tents were about 

 as numerous as the huts, and pitched near and about 

 them either singly or in small clusters ; they were 



