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No. 27

sides of the Hut. All this is interlaced or covered with the branches and tops of the fir tree, leaving a pretty large space in the middle, the length of the roof, for the smoke: an almost unnecessary precaution, as the smoke would easily find its way any where through the many chinks of this miserable and frail building. A Hole is left at each end to creep out at and shut up one andd sometimes both in bad weather. The hut in general being no more than 8 feet in breadth, with the fire in the middle, it is hard to conceive what misery and inconvenience the Inhabitants must suffer. Sometimes a couple of men and women with 3 or 4 children will heap themselves into a diminutive Hut of this description. Their Coverings or dress, of course correspond with their general poverty, and nastiness. It consists in summer of an old caribou dressed leather shirt, a pair of Leggins of the same quality &^c And generally an old thread bare caribou Robe for a Blanket. They have a new dress of the same in winter but

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