Native Dwelling -Places. 85 



The dwelling-places of the natives are most 

 pleasing when viewed from the outside, and the 

 greater the distance off the better. They are built 

 chiefly' of stone and turf, the only light during the 

 summer months being that admitted through win- 

 dows composed of the serous membrane of the 

 intestines of the seal. 



If sufficiently brave to encounter the offensive 

 stench which pervades everything, as to risk a visit 

 to the interior, one passes through a long narrow 

 entrance, having almost to crawl upon hands and 

 feet, emerging into a small room, not unlike the 

 cabins on board very small and ill-found merchant 

 ships, in which is the stove, the everlasting lamp, 

 and the long bench or shelf on which they sit dur- 

 ing the day, and on which, wrapped up in their 

 skins, they sleep during the night. The number 

 of people residing in one of these houses may pro- 

 bably amount to twenty or thirty of both sexes and 

 all ages. 



During the winter, when every aperture is care- 

 fully closed, and the fire and lamps kept burning- 

 day and night, the state of the interior may be better 

 imagined than described, as the Esquimaux are 

 notorious for being particularly dirty and filthy in 

 their habits; in addition to which, the rotten and 

 stinking pieces of seal and other animals that are 

 left strewed about must largely contribute to the 

 offensive stench that pervades their habitations. 



