388 CALICO DKESSES AND LOG HOUSES. 
our being dressed in uniform, they having been pre- 
viously visited by none but whalers, whose universal habit 
it is to consult only the respective states of their wardrobe, 
and the temperature of the air, while putting on their 
variegated apparel. Most of us on this occasion wore 
blue flannel sack-coats with the usual abundant allowance 
of naval buttons ; and these they were particularly struck 
with, making signs that they would like nothing better 
than to exchange their own fur ^over-alls’ for them. In 
return, we intimated that our clothes would be too cool 
for them; but they only laughed and pointed to several 
women who now approached, some of whom wore rigged 
out (evidently in honour of the occasion) in fancy calico 
dresses, while the others were, as usual, clothed in loose 
garments made from the skin of the reindeer. 
“We found several of those ivomen quite pretty, in 
sjflte of the ungraceful and masculine nature of their 
attire; and they joined the party in a very modest and 
retiring manner, shaking hands laughingly with each of 
us. who noticed them, and accompanying us to the house 
of the headman of the village, who proved to be one of 
those who had received us so warmly at the landing.’’ 
And now, before I go any further, I may as well give 
the reader an idea of the houses of that villajre, and of 
the people who lived in them. The former were of dif- 
ferent styles, though they were all built of logs with 
their crevices tilled in with a mixture of mud and grass. 
Tlie larger ones resembled our ordinary log cabins, with 
the exception of the absence of windows and chimneys, — 
an extensive skylight in the middle of the roof serving 
to admit light as well as to permit the escape of smoke. 
