Each was desirous of affording us lodging,
and we had speedily arranged matters so as to put them to the
least possible inconvenience.
These huts, four in number, were, in the mode of their
construction, exact counterparts of those at Winter Island on our
first visit, but, being new and clean, presented a striking
contrast with the latter, in their present disordered and filthy
state. What gave a peculiarity, as well as beauty also, to the
interior appearance of these habitations, was their being situated
on the ice, which, being cleared of the snow, presented a flooring
of that splendid blue which is, perhaps, one of the richest
colours that nature affords. A seal or two having been lately
procured, every lamp was now blazing, and every _=o=otk~ose~ek_
smoking with a hot mess, which, together with the friendly
reception we experienced, and a little warmth and fatigue from
travelling, combined in conveying to our minds an idea of comfort
which we could scarcely believe an Esquimaux hut capable of
exciting.
On the arrival of the men, who came in towards evening with two
seals as the reward of their labour, we were once more greeted and
welcomed. _Arnaneelia_, in particular, who was a quiet, obliging,
and even amiable man, was delighted to find my quarters were to be
in his apartment, where _An=e=etka_, his wife, a young woman of
about twenty-three, had already arranged everything for my
accommodation; and both these poor people now vied with each other
in their attention to my comfort.
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