ESKIMO HOUSES 



oil, or maybe the seal-oil lamp is banished, and a 

 gaudy paraffin lamp from the store takes its place ; 

 various queer-looking objects, such as snow-shoes, 

 harpoons, dogs' harness, whip, bladders for floats, 

 slabs of dried meat, bundles of straw for basket- 

 making, skin boots and clothing, strew the edges of 

 the floor or hang upon the walls, and a big corner is 

 curtained or partitioned off for a sleeping-place. 

 There may even be room somewhere for a new-born 

 family of pups, brought in lest the other dogs should 

 gobble them up when their mother was off guard ; 

 and the children of the household are playing all over 

 the place. 



Spare spaces on the walls are decorated with cards 

 and pictures, or flowery-wall paper; bottles, tins, 

 jars, and cheap ornaments stand upon tiny home- 

 made shelves, and one or two alarm clocks are sure 

 to be there, proclaiming their presence either by 

 untimely and ear-splitting chimings or by the very 

 loudness of their ticking. Anything will do to 

 beautify an Eskimo house. One of the firms that 

 supplied us with cocoa had the pleasing custom of 

 enclosing a big coloured show-card in each of their 

 packing-cases : these were a great prize for our simple- 

 minded neighbours, and so it comes about that 

 various grimy little Eskimo huts on the Labrador 

 coast are graced to this day by the startling an- 

 nouncement that " So-and-so's cocoa is sold here " ! 



I found that warmth was the most serious thing 

 to be considered, for the Eskimos of these days have 

 got used to fires and cannot do without them. A 

 good many of them are even losing the sleek coating 

 of fat that the northerners possess, and the stove 

 takes the place of this natural overcoat ; but quite 



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