For the admission of light into the huts, a round hole is cut on one side of the roof of each apartment, and a circular plate of ice, three or four inches thick and two feet in diameter, let into it.  The light is soft and pleasant, like that transmitted through ground glass, and it is quite sufficient for every purpose.  When, after some time, these edifices become surrounded by drift, it is only by the windows, as I have before remarked, that they could be recognised as human habitations.  It may, perhaps, then be imagined how singular is their external appearance at night, when they discover themselves only by a circular disk of light transmitted through the windows from the lamps within.

The next thing to be done is to raise a bank of snow, two and a half feet high, all round the interior of each apartment, except on the side next the door.  This bank, which is neatly squared off, forms their beds and fireplace, the former occupying the sides, and the latter the end opposite the door.  The passage left open up to the fireplace is between three and four feet wide.  The beds are arranged by first covering the snow with a quantity of small stones, over which are laid their paddles, tentpoles, and some blades of whalebone:  above these they place a number of little pieces of network, made of thin slips of whalebone, and lastly a quantity of twigs of birch[008] and of the andromeda tetragona.  Their deerskins, which are very numerous, can now be spread without risk of their touching the snow; and such a bed is capable of affording not merely comfort, but luxurious repose, in spite of the rigour of the climate.  The skins thus used as blankets are made of a large size and bordered, like some of the jackets, with a fringe of long, narrow slips of leather, in which state a blanket is called k=eipik.

The fire belonging to each family consists of a single lamp, or shallow vessel of lapis ollaris, its form being the lesser segment of a circle.  The wick, composed of dry moss rubbed between the hands till it is quite inflammable, is disposed along the edge of the lamp on the straight side, and a greater or smaller quantity lighted, according to the heat required or the fuel that can be afforded.  When the whole length of this, which is sometimes above eighteen inches, is kindled, it affords a most brilliant and beautiful light, without any perceptible smoke or any offensive smell.  The lamp is made to supply itself with oil, by suspending a long, thin slice of whale, seal, or seahorse blubber near the flame, the warmth of which causes the oil to drip into the vessel until the whole is extracted.  Immediately over the lamp is fixed a rude and rickety framework of wood, from which their pots are suspended, and serving also to sustain a large hoop of bone, having a net stretched tight within it.  This contrivance, called Inn~et~at, is intended for the reception of any wet things, and is usually loaded with boots, shoes, and mittens.