LAST VOYAGE OF OAPT. FOSS, 
241 
a party of English sailors the inmates of the hut of an Esquimaux. 
The opoortunity was not lost of taking an accurate observation 
of the method in which the huts are built, and particularly of 
their interior, which, certainly from the offensive smell which 
pervaded it, arising from the putrid masses of blubber which 
lay in one part of the hut, the stench of the dogs, the cadave¬ 
rous smell of the clothing of the natives, with some other nameless 
circumstances, rendered the whole an abode by no means agree¬ 
able or inviting. 
The huts were built on the banks of a small river, and their 
construction is commenced by tracing out a circle of about 12 
feet in diameter. The snow in the interior circle is next divided 
with a broad knife, having a long handle, into slabs three feet 
long, six inches thick and two feet deep, being the thickness 
of the layer of snow. These slabs are tenacious enough to 
admit of being moved about without breaking, or even losing 
the sharpness of their angles, and they have a slight degree of 
curvature, corresponding with that of the circle from which they 
are cut. They are piled upon each other like pieces of hewn 
stone, around the circle which was traced out, and care is taken 
to smoothen the beds of the different courses with the knife, and 
to cut them so as to give the wall a slight inclination inwards, by 
which contrivance the building acquires the properties of a dome. 
The dome is closed somewhat suddenly and flatly, by cutting the 
upper slabs in a wedge form, instead of the more rectangular 
shape of those below. The roof is about eight feet high, and 
the last aperture is shut up by a small conical piece; the whole 
is built from within, and each slab is cut so that it retains 
its position without requiring support, until another is placed 
beside it; the lightness of the slabs greatly facilitating the ope¬ 
ration. When the building is covered in, a little loose snow is 
thrown over it to close up every chink, and a low door is cut 
through the walls with the knife. A bed-place is next formed, 
and neatly faced up with slabs of snow, which is then covered 
with skins, or if they are to be obtained, with a thin layer of 
branches, to prevent the snow melting by the heat of the body. 
11 2i 
