thongs, hung at the farther end. It was
burning feebly. The wick seemed to be of long fibers of moss. The lamp
itself was simply an open bowl hollowed out of a stone, about the size
of a two-quart measure. The oil was the fat of seals or walruses. On
one side there was a quantity of fox-skins and bear-skins thrown down
promiscuously. Upon these reclined _Shug-la-wina's_ wife _Took-la-pok_
and his daughter _Iglooee_. Kit made them a present of three pins
each. On the other side of the hut there was stowed a sledge, with
runners of bone firmly lashed together with thongs. On it was a stone
pot, hollowed, like the lamp, out of a large stone. Several harpoons
stood in the farther corner. A coil of thong lay on the sledge; also
two whips with short handles of bone, but exceedingly long
lashes,--not less than fifteen or twenty feet in length. There were
lying about half a dozen tusks of the walrus, and, on a low stone
shelf, a hundred-weight or more of seal-pork. We were turning to go
out, when Wade pointed to the end of a bow and the heads of two arrows
protruding from under the furs. Kit took them up; but _Shug-la-wina_
very gravely took them from his hands, and returned them to their
hiding-place. The bow was of some dark bone, I thought,--possibly
whalebone; the bow-string of sinew; and the arrows of wood, but
provided with rough iron heads. The sight of these iron heads
surprised us a little, as well as the discovery in another hut of an
English case-knife. That knife, doubtless, had a history. On going
out, Wade took up one of the bear-skins, and pointed off to our tent.

"_Abb_," replied the Esquimau, nodding.

We took it along with us. The other huts were much the same as
_Shug-la-wina's_. We got a bear-skin from each. Wutchee and Wunchee
gave us two. These skins, spread over a "shake-down" of moss, made us
a very comfortable bed.

By this time it was past ten o'clock; and, after arranging for regular
sentinel duty,--two hours in each watch,--we turned in on our
bear-skins, save Weymouth, who had the first watch. But we were
horribly disturbed by the incessant barking, growling, and fighting of
their dogs. Such a set of vicious, snarling curs do not exist in any
other quarter of the world, I hope. They were decidedly the most
troublesome of our new subjects. Guard could not stir out away from us
without being assaulted tooth and nail. Fights of from two to half a
dozen combatants were in progress all night; and no