The
wretched appearance which the interior of the huts now presented
baffles all description. In each of the larger ones some of the
apartments were either wholly or in part deserted, the very snow
which composed the beds and fireplaces having been turned up, that
no article might be left behind. Even the bare walls, whose
original colour was scarcely perceptible for lampblack, blood, and
other filth, were not left perfect, large holes having been made
in the sides and roofs for the convenience of handing out the
goods and chattels. The sight of a deserted habitation is at all
times calculated to excite in the mind a sensation of dreariness
and desolation, especially when we have lately seen it filled with
cheerful inhabitants; but the feeling is heightened rather than
diminished when a small portion of these inhabitants remain behind
to endure the wretchedness which such a scene exhibits. This was
now the case at the village, where, though the remaining tenants
of each hut had combined to occupy one of the apartments, a great
part of the bed-places were still bare, and the wind and drift
blowing in through the holes which they had not yet taken the
trouble to stop up. The old man Hikkeiera and his wife occupied a
hut by themselves, without any lamp, or a single ounce of meat
belonging to them; while three small skins, on which the former
was lying, were all that they possessed in the way of blankets.
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