On the 23d I paid another visit to the huts, and found the greater part of the men absent on their sealing excursions.  We thought, however, that, except on pressing occasions, one man was left in each hut to keep an eye on the conduct of the women, and this was the case to-day.  The huts had in the interior assumed a somewhat different appearance since I had last seen them; the roofs were much blackened by the smoke of the lamps, and the warmth had in most parts given them a glazed and honey-combed surface; indeed, the whole of the walls had become much thinner by thawing, so that the light was more plainly visible through them.  The snow also, on which the lamps stood, was considerably worn away, so as to destroy, in great measure, the regularity of the original plan of construction.  To these changes might be added that of a vast quantity of blood and oil that now defaced the purity of the snowy floor, and emitted effluvia not very agreeable to European noses; so that, upon the whole, it may be imagined that our first impressions of the comfort and cleanliness of these habitations were more favourable than their present state was calculated to excite.

To the original apartments they had now also added various small places for stores, communicating with the huts from within, and looking something like our ovens, though without any door to them.  In some of these they deposited their upper jackets, which they usually take off in coming into their huts, as we do a greatcoat; while in smaller ones, like little shelves in a recess, they kept various articles of their Kabloona riches.  These and similar alterations and additions they were constantly making throughout the winter; for their inexhaustible materials being always at hand, it required but little time and labour to adopt any arrangement that might suit their convenience.

After distributing a number of presents in the first four huts, I found, on entering the last, that Pootooalook had been successful in bringing in a seal, over which two elderly women were standing, armed with large knives, their hands and faces besmeared with blood, and delight and exultation depicted on their countenances.  They had just performed the first operation of dividing the animal into two parts, and thus laying open the intestines.  These being taken out, and all the blood carefully baled up and put into the ootkooseek, or cooking-pot, over the fire, they separated the head and flippers from the carcass, and then divided the ribs.  All the loose scraps were put into the pot for immediate use, except such as the two butchers now and then crammed into their mouths, or distributed to the numerous and eager by-standers for still more immediate consumption.  Of these morsels the children came in for no small share, every little urchin that could find its way to the slaughterhouse running eagerly in, and, between the legs of the men and women, presenting its mouth for a large lump of