122 
ESQUIMAUX IIUTS. 
from the brig. They are four in number, long de¬ 
serted, but, to an eye unpractised in Arctic antiquarian 
inductions, in as good preservation as a last year’s 
tenement at home. The most astonishing feature is 
the presence of some little out-huts, or, as I first 
thought them, dog-kennels. These are about four 
feet by three in ground-plan, and some three feet 
THE ESQUIMAUX HUTS. 
high; no larger than the pologs of the Tchuschi. 
In shape they resemble a rude dome; and the stones 
of which they are composed are of excessive size, and 
evidently selected for smoothness. They were, with¬ 
out exception, of waterwashed limestone. They are 
heavily sodded with turf, and a narrow slab of clay- 
slate serves as a door. No doubt they are human 
habitations,—retiring-chambers, into which, away from 
the crowded families of the hut, one or even two Esqui¬ 
maux have burrowed for sleep,—chilly dormitories in 
the winter of this high latitude.' 31) 
“A circumstance that happened to-day is of serious 
