SHORES OF THE POLAR SEA. 253 



However, with the exception of one party, 

 who had about fifty kaiyacks, no violence 

 was attempted. This exception was occa- 

 sioned by the boats grounding, when an 

 attack, similar to that on Franklin, was 

 made, but immediately repelled by the show 

 of fire-arms, the use of which the aggressors 

 appeared perfectly to understand, the result, 

 no doubt, of experience acquired in contests 

 with the neighbouring Indians. 



Their winter-huts are of a superior kind ; 

 they are met with in whole villages, con- 

 structed of driftwood trees, planted gene- 

 rally in the sand with the roots uppermost. 

 " These villages," says Dr. Richardson, 

 " when seen through a hazy atmosphere, 

 frequently resembled a crowd of people, 

 and sometimes we fancied they were not 

 unlike the spires of a town appearing above 

 the horizon." The size and quantity of this 

 timber is quite surprising. One straight 

 log of spruce fir is mentioned, thirty feet 

 long, seven feet in circumference at the 

 small end, and twelve a short distance above 

 the root. " There is such an abundance of 



