Eskimo Life

nd a half to two metres) above the level of the ground, and the floor is sunk somewhat beneath it. The roof is

upright. The room forms an oblong quadrangle. Along the whole of the longer wall, opposite the door, runs the chief sleeping-bench, about six feet six inches in width, upon which sleep

e their marriage-bed under the sleeping-bench. I saw nothing to indica

the size of the house. The windows were formerly filled with gut-skin, or some similar material; but nowadays, on the west coast, glass is commonly used. Against

ch, and reaching to the roof, from which low partitions extend to the back wall. It is incredible how little room they are content with. Captain Holm describes a house on the east coast which measured about twenty-seven f

clothes, going to bed entirely naked, with the exception of the before-mentioned in

ith flags. Nowadays, since the introduction of so much European luxury, they have begun, on the west coast, to line the walls with board

trance. I was told at Sardlok of a fat storekeeper from Godthaab who stuck fast at a difficult point in the passage leading to Terkel's house. There he stuck, struggling and roaring, but could not advance, and still less retreat. In the end, he had to get four small boys to help him, two shoving behind and two, from within the house, dragging him in front

little square opening, usually in the front lo

caping. It is to this end that it is made to lie lower than the house; by which means, too, a little

t burning all night through, not merely for the sake of warmth, but also because the Eskimos are exceedingly superstitious, and therefore afraid of even slee

nowadays, of cotton. These lamps rest on a wooden stand, and are placed on a little table or raised place in front of the sleeping-bench. There is generally one

ne pots, which hung from the roof. The preparation of food, like e

ooked in a special room with a fireplace, built on to the side of the passage leading into the house. Peat is used as fuel in these fireplac

instead of the train-oil lamps for heating their houses. The fuel used is the same as that mentioned above. At

ropeans has been unfortunate. They have encouraged the distribution of the families into separate small houses, and have even offered prizes for house-building; it was thought to be such a grand thing that each family should have its own home for itself. The result was that the houses

lls in, they are anything but wholesome dwelling-places. As soon as spring arrives, therefore, with the month of April, the Greenlanders used always in former days to quit the

t side. Internally, they are arranged very like the houses, with the sleeping-bench running along the curved back wall opposite to the door, which is closed with a curtain of semi-transparent gut-skin. The walls of the tent consist of an outer laye

ts, which are from 30 to 40 feet long (10 to 12 metres), have received their

SKIM

m defective and inconvenient sea-boats, so that as soon as there is any wind the Greenlanders make for the land with them. They have generally a small sail which can be set in the bow, for running befo

y as many as half a score of oarswomen, and when they are so well 'manned,' they attain a good speed. A run of fifty English miles a d

another all through the summer. For one or two months they always went far up

not reach Pamiagdluk, west of Cape Farewell, until two years later, in 1890-and this is only a distance of some 180 miles, which we with our boats could no doubt have covered in a week or two. But as soon as the Eskimos come to a place where there are plenty of seals, they go ashore, pitch their camp, take to hunting, and live at their ease. When the autumn and winter approach, they choose a good site and build a winter-house, continuing their journey in the spring or summer as soon as the ice permits. The woman-boat in qu

MER J

ourse easier and more rapid, as the dri

le, so that there was all through the summer a certain life and traffic from which they reaped many benefits. Their minds were enlivened, interest in hunting was stimul

easily understand, very much healthier than confinement in the close, evil-smelling earth cabins. No wonde

ve been happy; for the Christian Greenlanders of to-day scarcely travel at all. By reason of the great impoverishment which we have brought upon them, there are every day fewer and fewer hunters who can procure enough skins to make a woman-boat and a tent, both of which are of course necessary for travelling. They are more and more forced to pass the whole year round in the unwholesome winter houses, which are, of course, mere hot-beds for bacteria and all sorts of contagious diseases, while the men