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put up to keep off the wind, a space in front serving 

 for a fireplace. For the rainy season, they sometimes 

 make huts of bark, which are, perhaps, five feet high, 

 and six or seven feet across at the ground. Near the 

 towns, they cover their dwellings with old carpets, 

 sheet-iron, or anything they can find to keep out the 

 wet. A village of such huts looks, at a short distance, 

 something like the winter quarters of a colony of 

 beavers; and it gives one an idea of the progress we 

 have made since our forefathers in England, France, 

 and Germany, lived in caves and huts, little, if any, 

 better housed than the wild beasts about them. 



When we left MacKay, we made a short stay at 

 Bomen ; and some of the natives came out to the 

 steamer in a canoe, to dive for money, which the pas- 

 sengers threw into the water. They were a motley- 

 looking crowd of men and women, and as ugly as 

 imagination could possibly picture. Their boat was 

 made of bark; and, in order that it might keep 

 afloat, they were obliged to bail it out continually 

 with a large shell. 



