The most important, perhaps, of the domestic utensils, next to the lamp
already described, are the _=o=otk~o~os~e~eks_, or stone
pots for cooking. These are hollowed out of solid _lapis ollaris_, of an
oblong form, wider at the top than at the bottom all made in similar
proportion; though of various sizes corresponding with the dimensions
of the lamp which burns under it. The pot is suspended by a line of
sinew at each end to the framework over the fire, and thus becomes so
black on every side that the original colour of the stone is in no part
discernible. Many of them were cracked quite across in several places,
and mended by sewing with sinew or rivets of copper, iron, or lead, so
as, with the assistance of a lashing and a due proportion of dirt, to
render them quite watertight.
Besides the ootkooseeks, they have circular and oval vessels of
whalebone, of various sizes, which, as well as their ivory knives made
out of a walrus's tusk, are precisely similar to those described on the
western coast of Baffin's Bay in 1820. They have also a number of
smaller vessels of skin sewed neatly together; and a large basket of the
same material, resembling a common sieve in shape, but with the bottom
close and tight, is to be seen in every apartment.
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