LIFE AND HISTORY OF THE ESKIMOS 



The fox furs are seldom brought into the house, but are kept 

 outside in a small stone cave. Thus the somewhat delicate 

 skins are not exposed to the frequent changes in temperature, 

 which would rapidly ruin them. The house-dress worn in the 

 very warm houses and tents is reduced to boots and trousers, 

 the upper part of the body being naked — a negligee costume 

 free of all coquetry, as up in the bunk often twenty degrees 

 (Cent.) of warmth is registered, whilst on the floor you will 

 find Zero or a few degrees of frost. 



HOUSES AND TENTS 



In winter the habitations consist of little houses, built of 

 large flat stones and with domed roofs which, with great archi- 

 tectural cunning, are built so that the stones carry themselves 

 without support. The houses as a rule are only planned for 

 one family. A low and very long passage serves as entrance, 

 and through this one creeps into the living-room itself, entering 

 from below through a narrow opening. In spite of the 

 primitive arrangement and the cramped space, the impression 

 given by these huts is often one of extraordinary cosiness, the 

 walls being covered with light-coloured sealskins. The stone 

 sleeping-bench, which occupies the better part of the room, is 

 always covered with a thick layer of fragrant hay, and on top 

 of this a rug of bear-skin or reindeer. Light and warmth are 

 supplied by two or three train-oil lamps, made out of the same- 

 kind of stone as that which forms the walls ; with their long 

 wicks of moss these lamps generate a heat fitting to the Adam's 

 costume which is the house-dress. The bench is seldom larger 

 than to allow four people to sit next to each other, and the roof 

 is so low that one can rarely stand erect. Right opposite to 

 the entrance there is a window of gut skins stitched 

 together. In the middle of this window there is always a small, 

 round peep-hole. In the roof there is another hole, called the 

 " nose " of the house, through which the bad air is carried 

 away. 



Beside the permanent stone winter-house, there is also a 



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