160 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



February man ' su PP orted Dv a st * ck which indeed he much needed, was soon left behind 

 us, his companions seeming to take no notice of his infirmities, and leaving 

 him without reluctance or apology to find his way home at his own pace. 

 When we had approached the huts within a few hundred yards, three of the Es- 

 quimaux went on before us, having previously explained that they were going to 

 confine their dogs, lest being frightened at our coming they should run away. 



When it is remembered that these habitations were fully within sight of the 

 ships, and how many eyes were continually on the look out among us for any 

 thing that could afford variety or interest in our present situation, our sur- 

 prise may in some degree be imagined at finding an establishment of five 

 huts, with canoes, sledges, dogs, and above sixty men, women, and chil- 

 dren, as regularly and, to all appearance as permanently fixed, as if they 

 had occupied the same spot for the whole winter. If the first view of the 

 exterior of this little village was such as to create astonishment, that feeling 

 was in no small degree heightened, on accepting the invitation soon given us, 

 to enter these extraordinary houses, in the construction of which we observed 

 that not a single material was used but snow and ice. After creeping through 

 two low passages, having each its arched door-way, we came to a small cir- 

 cular apartment of which the roof was a perfect arched dome. From this 

 three door-ways, also arched and of larger dimensions than the outer ones, 

 led into as many inhabited apartments, one on each side, and the other facing 

 us as we entered. The interior of these presented a scene no less novel 

 than interesting. The women were seated on the beds at the sides of the 

 huts, each having her little fire-place or lamp, with all her domestic utensils 

 about her ; the children crept behind their mothers, and the dogs, except the 

 female ones, which were indulged with a part of the beds, slunk out past us 

 in dismay. The construction of this inhabited part of the huts was similar 

 to that of the outer apartment, being a dome formed by separate blocks of 

 snow, laid with great regularity and no small art, each being cut into the 

 shape requisite to form a substantial arch, from seven to eight feet high in 

 the centre, and having no support whatever but what this principle of build- 

 ing supplied. I shall not here further describe the peculiarities of these 

 curious edifices, remarking only that a cheerful and sufficient light was 

 admitted to them by a circular window of ice neatly fitted into the roof of 

 each apartment. 



We found our new acquaintance as desirous of pleasing us, as we were 

 ready to be pleased ; so that we were soon on good terms with them all 



