The fireplace in the tent consisted of three rough stones
carelessly placed on end against one side, and they had several
pots of _lapis ollaris_ for culinary purposes. These people seemed
to us altogether more cleanly than any Esquimaux we had before
seen, both in their persons and in the interior of their tent, in
neither of which could we discover much of that rancid and pungent
smell which is in general so offensive to Europeans. One instance
of their cleanliness which now occurred, deserves, perhaps, to be
noticed, both because this is justly considered rather a rare
quality among Esquimaux, as well as to show in what way they do
sometimes exercise it. When leaving the tent to return to our
boats, I desired one of the seamen to tie the articles we had
purchased into a single bundle, for the convenience of carrying
them; but the elder of the two male Esquimaux, who watched the man
thus employed, would not permit it to be done without excluding a
pot, which, as he explained by wiping the lampblack off with one
of his fingers, would soil a clean sealskin jacket that formed
part of the bundle.
Among the few domestic utensils we saw in the tent was the woman's
knife of the Greenlanders described by Crantz, and resembling, in
its semicircular shape, that used by shoemakers in England.
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