228 THE HUDSON BAY ESKIMO. 



them. Guests and others temporarily abiding with the host are as- 

 signed any portion of the tent that tlie host may choose to select, usu- 

 ally, if great honor is to be shown, the ])lace lately occupied by himself. 

 The central portion is reserved for a fireplace for cooking and heating 

 purposes. In this structure is (tarried on all manner of work incidental 

 to the season. The tent is taken from ])lace to place by means of the 

 umiak when the food supply of a locality is exhausted or another re 

 gion x)roniises greater abundance. 



All these summer occupations require a number of persons to success- 

 fully prosecute them, hence the number dwelling in one tent is not 

 often detrimental, as the adults walk along the shore to drag the boat 

 or relieve it from their weight. 



The owner of a tent is considered an important individual, and his 

 favor is retained by every means. A period of illness may cause liiiu 

 to lose all his belongings and then ou recovery he has to start life 

 anew. Several seasons may elapse before a snfificient number of skins 

 will be pi'ocured for him to make a tent, and this is immovable without 

 a boat to transport it, for when a sled might be used for that jjurpose 

 there is always enough snow from which to erect a shelter. 



During the winter the skins are stored away on j)osts erected for the 

 purpose, or on piles of rocks where the various species of small animals 

 will not destroy them by eating holes in the oily skin. Mice and ermines 

 are very destructive to these skins, often causing sad havoc in a short 

 time. By the spring the owner may be miles away fi-om the scene of 

 the pr-evious autumnal hunt and be unable to go after the tent, ■which, 

 with the summer rain and decay, becomes useless, imposing the severe 

 task of collecting skins for a second tent. 



In former times these people inhabited permanent winter houses 

 like those used by the Eskimo elsewhere, as is shown by the ruins of 

 sod and stone houses to be seen in various parts of the country. 

 These appear to have had walls of stone built up to support the roof 

 timbers, with the interstices filled up with turf or earth. From the de- 

 pression remaining in the inside of these ruins, the floor seems to have 

 been excavated to a greater or less depth. 



The present inhabitants relate that their ancestors dwelt in these 

 huts, but can not explain why they were deserted, or why such 

 structures are not erected at the present day. 



HOUSEHOLD ARTICLKS. 



There is very little in these dwellings that can be called furniture, 

 besides the bed places already referred to. The other articles requisite 

 for housekeeping consist of a lamj) of soapstone, kettles to hang over 

 it, a frame suspended above the lamp for drying various articles, and 

 sundry wooden bowls, buckets, aud cups, besides similar vessels made 

 of sealskin. 



