154 AUDUBON THE NATURALIST. 



matters for their comfort. Perambulating the 

 apartment, she held in one hand a bunch of 

 candles, in the other a lighted torch, distributing 

 the candles along the wall, and by the applica- 

 tion of the torch producing a blaze of illumina- 

 tion. She then proceeded to empty the con- 

 tents of a tin vessel into a number of glasses, 

 placed on the only table in the room. 



The chimney, black and capacious, was orna- 

 mented around and above with coffee-pots, milk- 

 bowls, cups and saucers, and all the et cetera 

 necessary for the festival. 



Some primitive wooden benches were placed 

 around the apartment for the accommodation of 

 the belles of the village. 



It was not long before the Arctic beauties ap- 

 peared, flourishing in the rosy exuberance which 

 proved the beneficial influence of a northern 

 climate. Their decorations might have vied 

 with the Queen of Otaheite herself, in possession 

 of brilliant beads, feathers, gaudy flowers, and 

 flowing ribbons, which mingled with their ebony 

 tresses, and ornamented their finely-developed 

 forms. Soon arrived their partners, who, re- 

 turning from fishing, skipped up, without cere- 

 mony, a kind of partially screened loft adjoin- 

 ing the room of assembly, to exchange their 

 drenched garments for apparel more suited to 

 the elegant usages of the dance. 



