ofless remains of an unoccupied
dwelling, which may serve to show how these huts are built. It is a
square enclosure three or four feet in height; the back is dug out of
the sloping bank, the front wall is built up with turf. Put a roof
over this and your house will be made. Two upright posts in the
middle, about seven feet in height, will serve as the supports for the
frame of your roof, which will also be covered with turf. The low door
must be in front, facing the bay, and, both for warmth and as a
shelter for the dogs, must invariably be protected by a low covered
porch. Whether he be dwelling in his turf hut or sheltering in some
snow hut, quickly built for a night away from home, the Eskimo enters
his abode by a little tunnel, at the further end of which is the door.
Just above this comes the window-frame, sometimes on a slant, better
perpendicular. The window of his turf hut is semi-transparent seal
bladder unless the owner of the mansion can afford and obtain glass.
Now your house is complete, but lacks interior fittings. If you are an
Eskimo, you do not want many. Your two poles supporting the roof may
help you to partition off the sleeping places, either with boards or
with curtains. These are raised about a foot from the ground, and the
edge of the bed is the general seat.

Let us continue our visits to the inhabited houses, one next the
other, in an irregular row. Outside them the children are playing
about and seem to enjoy life. Here and there one may see a sledge, or
a kayak, the skin-covered boat such as is used, by the men. The larger
umiak, or women's boat, is now scarcely met with in Labrador. There
are one or two light wooden skeleton frames of kayaks, but most are
tightly covered with white smooth skins, cleverly sewn together by the
women. Look at this one lying on the grass; it is about fifteen feet
long, but you can lift the end of it quite easily. The owner paddled
home in it this morning from his fishing-place at the head of the
fjord, and sold fifty-two trout off the top of it to the captain, as
he passed the "Harmony." His bone-pointed harpoon and a hook with a
long handle are strapped on top of the canoe. Beside it lies his
paddle, which the Eskimo wields so deftly and silently that even a
seal may fail to detect his swift approach. Its blades at both ends
are beautifully finished off with bone. I see his gun is carelessly
left in the round man-hole in which he sits when afloat. It may be
l