Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/62

 The climate is always at freezing point here, even in summer, which lasts through January and February. Notwithstanding the severe cold, their only article of dress is a piece of sealskin worn over the shoulders, and  this they change according to the way the wind blows. They are very much pleased at receiving pieces of red flannel, which they prefer torn into strips rather than  in the whole piece. These they wind around their heads in turban style, and it is amusing to see their  satisfaction at this small addition to their wardrobe. The home of the Fuegian is in his small, frail canoe, or in his miserable hut, built from limbs of trees. The ends of these are bent together in the form of a cone and  covered well with seaweed. The floor is mother earth, and is carpeted with some of the same seaweed as that  upon the roof. Their food consists of snails, limpets, wild berries, roots, and shell-fish. Sometimes they find a dead whale that has drifted into the kelp; then they  enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner. While we were on shore one of the natives seemed anxious to talk with us. He pointed to the sou’west and then again to the ship, after  which, clasping his hands in the attitude of prayer, he  said, "Eloh, eloh," as though he thought we had come  from God. One day a party of natives came on board. They were highly delighted and surprised at everything they saw. When they left the ship most of them were dressed in sailor rig. Jack was bound to make everything fit. If a jacket was found to be too small, a slit was made down the back. If a pair of trousers proved to be too small around the waist, a piece of spun yarn  remedied the defect. If the legs were too long, the