North-West Continent of America. 



41 



A great number of poles, however, were seen fixed in the 

 river, to which they had attached their nets, and there 

 seemed to be an excellent fishery. One of the fish, of the 

 many which we saw leap out of the water, fell into our 

 canoe : it was about ten inches long, and of a round shape. 

 About the places where they had made their fires were 

 scattered pieces of whalebone, and thick burned leather, 

 with parts of the frames of three canoes ; we could also 

 observe where they had spilled train oil ; and there was 

 the singular appearance of a spruce-fir, stripped of its 

 branches to the top like an English may-pole. The wea- 

 ther was cloudy, and the air cold and unpleasant. From 

 this place for about five miles, the river widens, it then 

 flows in a variety of narrow, meandering channels, amongst 

 low islands, enlivened with no trees, but a few dwarf wil- 

 lows. - . 



At four, we landed, where there were three houses, or 

 rather huts, belonging to the natives. The ground-plot is 

 of an oval form, about fifteen feet long, ten feet wide in 

 the middle, and eight feet at either end : the whole of it 

 is dug about twelve inches below the surface of the ground, 

 and one half of it is covered over with willow branches ; 

 which probably serves as a bed for the whole family. A 

 space, in the middle of the other part, of about four feet 

 wide, is deepened twelve inches more, and is the only 

 spot in the house where a grown person can stand upright, 

 One side of it is covered, as has been already described, 

 and the other is the hearth, or fire-place, ( of which, how- 

 ever, they do not make much use. Though it was close 

 to the wall, the latter did not appear to be burned. The 

 door or entrance is in the middle of one end of the house, 

 and is about two feet and an half high and two feet wide, 

 and has a covered way or porch five feet in length j so that 

 it is absolutely necessary to creep on all fours in order to 

 get into, or out of, this curious habitation. There is 

 an hole of about eighteen inches square on the top of it, 

 which serves the three-fold purpose of a window, an oc- 

 casional door, and a chimney. The under-ground part 

 of the floor is lined with split wood. Six or eight stumps 

 of small trees driven into the earth, with the root up- 

 wards, on which are laid some cross pieces of timber, 

 support. the roof of the building, which is an oblong square 

 •f ten feet by six. The whole is made of drift-wood cov- 



