OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 



499 



other countries, and by which our seamen frequently mark their hands and 

 arms. The pattern which these people adopt, and which is nearly the same 

 in all, will best and can indeed be only understood by reference to Cap- 

 tain Lyon's drawings, in which it is faithfully delineated. Several of the 

 men had a little of this kind of mark on the back part of their hands ; 

 and with them we understood it to be considered as a souvenir of some dis- 

 tant or deceased person who had performed it. 



In their winter-habitations, I have before mentioned that the only mate- 

 rials employed are snow and ice ; the latter being 1 made use of for the win- 

 dows alone. The work is commenced by cutting from a drift of hard and 

 compact snow a number of oblong slabs, six or seven inches thick and 

 about two feet in length, and laying them edgeways on a level spot, also 

 covered with snow, in a circular form and of a diameter from eight to fifteen 

 feet, proportioned to the number of occupants the hut is to contain. Upon 

 this as a foundation is laid a second tier of the same kind, but with the 

 pieces inclining a little inwards, and made to fit closely to the lower slabs 

 and to each other, by running a knife adroitly along the under part and 

 sides. The top of this tier is now prepared for the reception of a third, by 

 squaring it off smoothly with a knife, all which is dexterously performed by 

 one man standing within the circle and receiving the blocks of snow from 

 those employed in cutting them without. When the wall has attained a 

 height of four or five feet, it leans so much inward as to appear as if about 

 to tumble every moment, but the workmen still fearlessly lay their blocks 

 of snow upon it, until it is too high any longer to furnish the materials to 

 the builder in this manner. Of this he gives notice by cutting a hole close 

 to the ground in that part where the door is intended to be, which is near 

 the south side, and through this the snow is now passed. Thus they con- 

 tinue till they have brought the sides nearly to meet in a perfect and well- 

 constructed dome, sometimes nine or ten feet high in the centre ; and this 

 they take considerable care in finishing, by fitting the last block or keystone 

 very nicely in the centre, dropping it into its place from the outside though 

 it is still done by the man within. The people outside are in the mean time 

 occupied in throwing up snow with the poodllerm/, or snow-shovel, (5.) and 

 in stuffing in little wedges of snow where holes have been accidentally left. 



The builder next proceeds to let himself out by enlarging the proposed 

 door-way into the form of a Gothic arch three feet high, and two feet and a 

 half wide at the bottom, communicating with which they construct two 



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