ine style, and were welcomed in the most
cordial manner. These tents were supported by a pole of whalebone,
about fourteen feet long, placed perpendicularly in the ground, with
four or five feet projecting above the roof. The sides and roof were
formed of the skins of seals sewed neatly together. The tents were
about seventeen feet long, and at the entrance about seven feet wide,
increasing towards the farther end, where the bed-places were situated,
where they are about nine feet in width. The beds were formed of a
shrubby plant strewed over about a third of the tent, and kept separate
by pieces of bone laid across from side to side. The doors opened
towards the south-west. They also were formed of a bone framework, with
the skins stretched on them, and were made to overlap each other. The
entrance to the tents was much the lowest part. The skins were pegged
down to the ground with curved bits of bone, also parts of the whale;
indeed, everything about the tents may be said to have been made of skin
and bone, as in truth were all the articles we saw in the possession of
our friends.

It was worthy of remark how well these people adapted their mode of
living to the circumstances of the country, and how ingeniously they
made use of the very few objects they had the means of obtaining. I
thought to myself, suppose a civilised man, or indeed a whole army of
civilised men, were to be placed in this region, not having been
accustomed to whaling and sealing, as my companions were, every one of
them would perish within a few hours, or days at the utmost; and these
people, who are called savages, have contrived to supply themselves with
all the conveniences and necessaries of life. We felt that had we not
discovered the wreck, and afterwards fallen in with them, we might have
fared very ill indeed.

When we got off the sledges, our new friends invited us to enter their
tents. I went into Ickmallick's, where he introduced me to his wife and
children. She was young, and had a pleasant amiable expression of
countenance, which made me feel quite at home. She was employed in
cooking the family meal. Her fireplace was composed of a few stones in
the corner of the tent, with a lamp of oil and moss in the centre; and
over it was suspended a small stone vessel of an oblong shape, and
larger at the top than the bottom, containing a mess of sea-horse flesh,
with a quantity of thick gravy. The dinner was just ready; so all o