XL] 
CHUKCH LAMPS. 
23 
consists of a layer of grass undermost, on which a walrus skin is 
spread. The grass and the skin do not form a very soft bed, 
yet one on which even a tired European wanderer may find 
rest. The interior of the sleeping-chamber is lighted and 
warmed by lamps, whose number varies according to the size of 
the room. A moderately large chamber has three lamps, the 
largest right opposite the entrance, the two others on the cross 
walls. The lamps are often made of a sort of stone, which is 
called by the natives ibhulscM. They have the form of a large 
ladle. The fuel consists of train-oil, and moss is used for the 
wick. These lamps besides require constant attention, because 
half-an-hour’s neglect is sufficient to make them smoke or go 
out. The flame is at one corner of the lamp, whose moss wick 
is trimmed with a piece of wood of the shape shown in the 
drawing. The lamp rests on a foot, and it in its turn in a basin. 
In this way every drop of oil that may be possibly spilled is 
SECTION OF A CHUKCH LAMP. 
(After a drawing by G. Bove.) 
a a. The oil. &. The wick. c. The foot. d. The basin under it. 
e. Stick for trimming the wick. 
collected. If there is anything that this people ought do save, it 
is certainly oil, for this signifies to them both light and heat. 
In the roof of the bedchamber some bars are fixed over the 
lamps on which clothes and shoes are hung to dry. The lamps 
are kept alight the whole day; during night they are com¬ 
monly extinguished, as otherwise they would require continual 
attention. Some clothes and fishing implements, two or three 
reindeer skins to rest upon—these are the whole furniture of a 
Chukch tent. 
« Every tent is besides provided with some drums {ydrar). 
These are made of a wooden ring, about seventy centimetres in 
diameter, on which is stretched a skin of seal or walrus gut. 
The drum is beaten with a light stick of whalebone. The 
sound thus produced is melancholy, and is so in a yet higher 
degree when it is accompanied by the natives' monotonous, 
