[4] See Introduction to Hearne's Journey, page xxiv.
The winter habitations of the Esquimaux, who visit Churchill are built of snow, and judging from one constructed by Augustus to-day, they are very comfortable dwellings. Having selected a spot on the river, where the snow was about two feet deep, and sufficiently compact, he commenced by tracing out a circle twelve feet in diameter. The snow in the interior of the circle was next divided with a broad knife, having a long handle, into slabs three feet long, six inches thick, and two feet deep, being the thickness of the layer of snow. These slabs were tenacious enough to admit of being moved about without breaking, or even losing the sharpness of their angles, and they had a slight degree of curvature, corresponding with that of the circle from which they were cut. They were piled upon each other exactly like courses of hewn stone around the circle which was traced out, and care was taken to smooth the beds of the different courses with the knife, and to cut them so as to give the wall a slight inclination inwards, by which contrivance the building acquired the properties of a dome. The dome was closed somewhat suddenly and flatly by cutting the upper slabs in a wedge-form, instead of the more rectangular shape of those below. The roof was about eight feet high, and the last aperture was shut up by a small conical piece. The whole was built from within, and each slab was cut so that it retained its position without requiring support until another was placed beside it, the lightness of the slabs greatly facilitating the operation. When the building was covered in, a little loose snow was thrown over it, to close up every chink, and a low door was cut through the walls with a knife. A bed-place was next formed and neatly faced up with slabs of snow, which was then covered with a thin layer of pine branches, to prevent them from melting by the heat of the body. At each end of the bed a pillar of snow was erected to place a lamp upon, and lastly, a porch was built before the door, and a piece of clear ice was placed in an aperture cut in the wall for a window.
The purity of the material of which the house was framed, the elegance of its construction, and the translucency of its walls, which transmitted a very pleasant light, gave it an appearance far superior to a marble building, and one might survey it with feelings somewhat akin to those produced by the contemplation of a Grecian temple, reared by Phidias; both are triumphs of art, inimitable in their kinds.
Annexed there is a plan of a complete Esquimaux snow-house and kitchen and other apartments, copied from a sketch made by Augustus, with the names of the different places affixed. The only fire-place is in the kitchen, the heat of the lamps sufficing to keep the other apartments warm:—
A.Ablokeyt, steps.
B.Pahlœuk, porch.
C.Wadl-leek, passage.
D.Haddnœweek, for the reception of the sweepings of the house.
E. G.Tokheuook, antechamber, or passage.
F.Annarrœartoweek.
H.Eegah, cooking-house.
I.Eegah-natkah, passage.
K.Keidgewack, for piling wood upon.
L.Keek kloweyt, cooking side.
[M.]Keek loot, fire-place built of stone.
N.Eegloo, house.
O.Kattack, door.
P.Nattœuck, clear space in the apartment.
a. d. Eekput, a kind of shelf where the candle stands; and
b. c. a pit where they throw their bones, and other offal of their provision.
Q.Eegl-luck, bed-place.
R.Eegleeteœt, bed-side or sitting-place.
[S.]bed-place, as on the other side.
T.Kietgn-nok, small pantry.
U.Hœrgloack, [store-house] for provisions.
Several deer were killed near the house, and we received some supplies from Akaitcho. Parties were also employed in bringing in the meat that was placed en cache in the early part of the winter. More than one half of these caches, however, had been destroyed by the wolves and wolverenes; a circumstance which, in conjunction with the empty state of our store-house, led us to fear that we should be much straitened for provisions before the arrival of any considerable number of rein-deer in this neighbourhood.