154 AUDUBON THE NATURALIST. 
inatters 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 blade of illuminay 
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, 
