They Went Regularly To Church, Where They Prayed Very
Devoutly On Their Knees, And They Kept The Fast Days With Great Strictness.
Their houses are built of wood, in a round form, having a hole in the
middle of the roof for the admission of light; and which hole they cover
over in winter with a transparent fish skin, on account of the severity of
the cold.
Their clothes are made of coarse cloth, manufactured at London,
and elsewhere. They wore furs but seldom; and in order to inure themselves
to the coldness of their climate, they expose their new born infants, the
fourth day after birth, naked under the sky-light, which they then open to
allow the snow to fall upon them; for it snowed almost continually during
the whole winter that Quirini and his people were there, from the 5th of
February to the 14th of May. In consequence of this treatment, the boys are
so inured to the cold, and become so hardy, that they do not mind it in the
least.
The isle of Rostoe is frequented by a great number of white sea-fowl called
Muris [6] in the language of the country. These birds are fond of living
hear mankind, and are as tame and familiar as common pigeons. They make an
incessant noise; and in summer, when it is almost one continued day for
three months, they are only silent for about four hours in the twenty-four,
and this silence serves to warn the inhabitants of the proper time of going
to rest.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 782 of 810
Words from 214297 to 214558
of 222093
