226 THE HUDSON BAY ESKIMO. 



means of a commuuicating passage-way. An exterior opening may be 

 made and closed with a block of snow. The larger articles, such as 

 bags of oil and bundles of skins, are put inside before the walls are up, 

 if intended to be stored for some time. 



As I have slept in these snow-houses I can assert that, while very 

 uncomfortable, they afford a protection which can not be dispensed 

 with. When the doorway is open they soon become very cold, and 

 when closed upon several persons the heat becomes intolerable. Odors 

 from the food remain long after the renmants are disposed of, and 

 where one has been occupied for a long period the accumulation of 

 refuse becomes so great that a new structure is indispensable in order 

 to get rid of it. All the work of the different members of the family 

 is performed within the walls. The skins of animals are dressed and 

 tanned there. The oflal of game and the hair from dressed skins 

 mingle in one mass, which soon putrefies and creates such a stench 

 that only an Eskimo with most obtuse sense of smell could inhabit the 

 place. 



When spring comes the huts begin to melt and in the course of a 

 few warm days fall down. If the weather is too inclement to x)ermit 

 a skin tent to be occupied, the tirst hole in the wall may be patched 

 with a deerskin, but this will afford very limited protection from the 

 cold of nights, for, however warm the days, the nights will, until late 

 in May, be so cold that only the older individuals withstand the 

 cold. 



When the structure falls, melted by sun or rain, the miserable 

 occupants must erect temporary shelter of deerskin or cloth on the 

 bare rocky ridges. Those too poor to own a skin tent have often but 

 a blanket of deerskin, stretched over three or four poles, set to shelter 

 them from the chilly northerly winds usually prevailing at that season. 



Here they must sojourn until the ice breaks from the shores of the 

 coves and bays, enabling the hunters to procure seals from the sea. 

 Along the shores one may often find camping sites of these poor wan- 

 derers searching through the day for food and at night camping under 

 the lee of a wall of rock with little other covering than that worn diu'- 

 ing the day and this often soaked with spray or rain. 



Improvidence and indolence result in the most cruel privations 

 toward the eud of winter. Many who are too weak and emaciated 

 from lack of food to pursue the chase to gain a living starve before 

 reaching the sea and are left to perish. 



When the season is more advanced, and the weather warm enough, 

 those who are industrious and provident enough to be the possessors 

 of sealskin tents, move into them for the season. 



The skin tent (PI. xxxvii) is usually made of the skins of the largest 

 square flipper seals, those too heavy for any other purpose or not nec- 

 essary foi' other uses. 



