THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 
ing, by which the light is admitted; one of thefe open- 1778. 
ings being for this purpole only, and the other being alfo , L °, er ' 
ufed to go in and out by, with the help of a ladder, or 
rather a poll, with Reps cut in it *. In fome houfes 
there is another entrance below; but this is not com¬ 
mon. Round the fides and ends of the huts, the fami¬ 
lies (for feveral are lodged together) have their fepprate 
apartments, where they lleep, and fit at work; not upon 
benches, but in a kind of concave trench, which is dug all 
round the infide of the houfe, and covered with mats; fo 
that this part is kept tolerably decent. But the middle of 
the houfe, which is common to all the families, is far other- 
wife. For, although it be covered with dry grafs, it is a 
receptacle for dirt of every kind, and the place for the 
urine trough; the flench of which is not mended by raw 
hides, or leather being almoft continually fleeped in it. 
Behind and over the trench, are placed the few effedts 
they are pofTeffed of; fuch as their clothing, mats, and 
fkins. 
Their lioufehold furniture confifts of bowls, fpoons, 
buckets, piggins or cans, matted bafkets, and perhaps a 
Ruffian kettle or pot. All thefe utenfils are very neatly 
made, and well formed; and yet we faw no other tools 
among them but the knife and the hatchet; that is, a 
fmall flat piece of iron, made like an adze, by fitting it 
into a crooked wooden handle. Thefe were the only in- 
ftruments we met with there, made of iron. For although 
the Ruffians live amongft them, we found much lefs of 
* Mr. Coxe’s defcription of the habitations of the natives of Ooqalafhka, and the other 
Fox Hands, in general, agrees with Captain Cook’s. See Ruffian Difcoveries , p. 149. 
See alfo Hijloire des differents Peuples foumis d la Domination des Ruffes, par M. Levefque, 
Tom. I. p. 40, 41. 
this 
