Hut Point

“ That sledging, at any rate in summer and autumn, was a much less terrible ordeal than my imagination had painted it, and that those Hut Point days would prove some of the happiest in my life. Just enough to eat and keep us warm, no more—no frills nor trimmings: there is many a worse and more elaborate life. ”

“ During the second year occasional parties camped inside the hut, but no bunks or permanent sleeping quarters were ever erected. The discomfort of the hut was a byword on the Expedition, but it formed an excellent depot and starting-point for all parties proceeding to the south.
When the Discovery finally left McMurdo Sound, the hut was stripped of all gear, including the stove, but there was left behind a large depot of the stores mentioned above. ”

“ The ruins of the rude stone hut built by these men for shelter during the last year of their lives can still be seen on the bleak northern shore of Cape Sabine, only two or three miles from the extreme point. It is doubtful if a more desolate and unsheltered location for a camp could be found anywhere in the arctic regions, fully exposed to the biting winds from the north, cut off by the rocks back of it from the rays of the southern sun, and besieged by the ice pack surging down from Kane Basin in the north. ”

“ Nathan Hutton is a well remembered old postilion. He was a tall, spare man, and lived in a small log house on the roadside, a short distance west of the old Johnson tavern, and four and a half miles east of Brownsville. At the foot of the hill below his house, he re-enforced the coaches with his postilion both ways, east and west, up Colley’s hill, going west, and the equally long hill, coming east from that point. When he wanted a man or horse to be faithful to duty he exhorted him to “stand by his ’tarnal integrity.” ”

“ In summer all they require is to be shaded from the sun, and for this a pile of bushes or a tree will suffice. The winter huts are a little more pretentious. These are sometimes erected on the level ground, but more frequently over an excavation three or four feet deep, and varying from ten to thirty feet in diameter. Round the brink of this hole willow poles are sunk upright in the ground and the tops drawn together, forming a conical structure, or the upper ends are bent over 372 and driven into the earth on the opposite side of the pit, thus giving the hut a semi-globular shape. ”

“ So Gadabout took plenty of time to run up Back River, feeling her way cautiously with a sounding-pole, like some fat old lady with a walking-stick.
There must once have been a better channel here; for in the early days of the colony, vessels did not always land at the front of the island, but sometimes ran up Back River as our houseboat was now doing. Indeed, we were expecting to come soon to the wooded rise of land once called "Pyping Point," where of old a boat in passing would sound "a musical note" to apprise the townspeople of its coming. ”

“ Strong sticks lean against these, and the crevices are carefully filled with boughs and bark of trees to prevent the wind from entering. Some huts have an oval form, and, on the coast, are roofed with dry weeds and boughs of trees, and at the base have a diameter (in one instance) of 14 feet. The huts nearer Perth were about 4 feet high. Occasionally the hut is a mere break or shelter from the wind. More often the natives do not trouble about the erection of a hut at all, and lie by their fires where they cook their food. ”

“ Eric then proceeded down to the next step, or leap, of the waterfall in the same way, lowering the kid first, and then descending and directing his brother’s steps; so that, in a much shorter time than they had ascended, they arrived once more in the valley—although, from the fact of the tableland being more open and exposed and the cliffs obscuring the light, the lads found it quite dark when they reached their hut, the sun having sunk below the western ocean while they were climbing down the crags. ”

“ The road to Canada is not so long, but a red-skin can make one pair of moccasins go over it. Then, the Oneidas and Mohawks are not all children of heaven."
"No pale-face rogue, go about, I s'pose?" said Nick, sarcastically.
"Yes, there are men of that class, who are none the worse for being locked out of one's house, at times. But, what do you think of the hut?--You know I call the place the 'Hut,' the Hutted Knoll."
"He hole plenty of beaver, if you cotch him!--But no water left, and he all go away. Why you make him stone, first; den you make him wood, a'ter; eh? Plenty rock; plenty tree." ”

“ In fact, except to one accustomed to the woods, it would be dangerous to go far away from the hut. As long as it is fine, you will find your way back by following your own tracks, but if the weather changed suddenly, and it came on to snow, your case would be hopeless. One of the advantages of placing our hut on a stream is that it forms a great aid to finding one's way back. ”

“ Our guide had gone back after bringing us thus far, and we never thought of having the slightest difficulty in reaching the hut again. Now, when we turned to go, the whole place seemed to have changed. There was no one to ask our way, and the dusk was falling. Each stony ridge we climbed over we imagined to be the last, and that we should see the hut from its summit. But the hut was nowhere: it had vanished. A kind of despair seized us as we wandered hither and thither in the gathering gloom, seeing around us naught but stones:
“A great grey chaos—a land half-made. ”

“ Summer huts are light portable buildings, thrown up during hunting excursions in the interior, or on the sea-beach in the fishing-season. A frame is made of stakes driven into the ground, supporting a roof, and the whole covered with bark, or with green or dry branches, and skins or bark over all. The door is closed by bark or a curtain of skins. Each hut 103 is the rendezvous for a small colony, frequently covering twenty or thirty persons, all under the direction of one chief. ”

“ A circle of blocks is laid on the ground, then another on them, with the edges projecting a little inward, so that the circumference of each course is less than that of the one immediately beneath it; a large slab covers the top, and finishes the building. Such huts are found in the north-eastern part of the Free State in South Africa, formerly the Orange River Sovereignty.
Among the various Bechuana tribes in and beyond the Free State, the building of a hut is a more elaborate and artistic affair ”

“ The rapidity with which these snow-huts are raised is quite surprising, and certainly affords a vivid illustration of the old saying that “practice brings perfection.” Captain M’Clintock for a few nails hired four Eskimos to erect a hut for his ship’s crew; and though it was twenty-four feet in circumference, and five and a half feet in height, it was erected in a single day.
Much ingenuity is frequently displayed in their construction.
Dr. Scoresby, in 1824, found some deserted huts on the east coast of Greenland, which showed no little constructive skill on the part of their builders. ”

“ These natives have a curious predilection for building their huts on the sea-shore, and place them below the level of low water. They begin this curious style of architecture by building a long pier, or rather jetty, which extends far into the sea, and which keeps open a communication between the house and the shore.
At the end of this jetty the hut itself is situated, and is made of boarded walls and a thatched roof. Great as is the labor that is bestowed upon it, the house does not come up to our ideas of comfort. ”

“ The huts are long and low, with an arched roof, and vary in length from ten to twenty feet, with an average height of five feet, and a width of six. They consist of a neat framework of strips of bamboo, thatched with long coarse grass. Each hut is usually situated in a small well-fenced enclosure, and opposite to it on the beach is the cooking place, consisting of a small shed, under which the fire is made. ”

“ Leaving the pole in the earth, we set about boring in the floor of our hut, not beginning midway between the door-posts, as we should have done if we had encountered no obstacle, but a little to one side. We proceeded here in the same manner as we had done in the bank of the lake, using a sharp-pointed pole, only we drove it down in a vertical direction ”

“ One awesome night, dark as pitch, when I lay awake in the hut and listened to the rain pouring and the rush of Roaring Creek as it carried its rain-swollen waters into the Arthur River, my thoughts veered round to the perennial scone. The rats that night were holding high carnival. They had discovered some figs in my swag. Among the bric-à-brac in the men’s hut, which was our kitchen, dining-room, and drawing-room in one, I had noticed a frying-pan with a large hole in the bottom. ”

“ On the 5th a number of the natives came on board, according to promise, to rebuild the hut in a more substantial manner, and to put a plate of ice into the roof, as a window, which they did with great quickness as well as care, several of the women cheerfully assisting in the labour. The men seemed to take no small pride in showing in how expeditious and workmanlike a manner they could perform this; and the hut, with its outer passage, was soon completed. From this time they were in the constant habit of coming freely to the ships ”

“ We rowed leisurely along the eastern shore, and in a deep bay found excellent fishing, at the mouth of a cold mountain brook. On the banks of this bay we found the winter hut of a martin and sable trapper. It had an outer and inner apartment, the latter almost subterranean. The hut was composed of small logs, which a single man could lay up, the crevices between which were closely packed with moss, and the roof covered with two or three layers of bark. ”

“ Towns there are none, except in certain parts; seldom do more than four or five houses stand in a group; the locality being changed at intervals for sanitary or superstitious purposes. A few upright posts planted in parallel lines, or in a circle, and occasionally interwoven with cane or leaves, support what may be called the hut 718 proper, which is a sharply sloping, well-thatched palm-leaf roof with projecting eaves, reaching to within three or four feet of the ground. ”

“ It often becomes necessary for the traveller, if he contemplates a stay of a few months, or even weeks, in any one place, to build his own hut; and it is as well that this should be, if possible, somewhat superior in size and form to the dwellings of the natives around him. If the nature of the ground and the materials at hand will admit of it, this may as well be a house regularly walled and roofed, and at least the four corner posts, as well as the two which support the gables, should be firmly let into the ground. ”

“ Suppose we begin to make ourselves at home and arrange our things in the snug little cottage which our good friends have built for us?”
“Right you are!” responded Eric, starting off towards the cliff, under the lee of which the Tristaner had directed the hut to be built, so that it might be sheltered from the strong winds of the winter, which would soon have blown it down had it been erected in a more exposed situation. ”

“ All that night rain poured in torrents and the wind howled round the hut in furious gusts. Now this hut with its framework of wood looks very fragile, and as it rocked and shook me in my bunk all night I wondered would it stand the strain. I was assured in the morning that it was built on very solid foundations and anchored firmly to the rock, and not at all likely to be blown over. That day and the following night the wind and rain continued, so we left the hut and tramped back to the Hermitage and there stayed for another two days. ”

“ Clement Danes lies like a ship of stone anchored in the thoroughfare, and Samuel Johnson, LL.D., stands bareheaded in the sun wondering what has happened to the world. The hut within is simply an agglomeration of big, clean, rectangular spaces, reading rooms, living rooms, dormitories, and baths always full of husky, pink figures, steam and the smell of soap. Physically, Eagle hut is merely the larger counterpart of some thousand others. The wonder of the place is its atmosphere. ”

“ Just before sunset I scrambled my way through the evergreens to the hut of my friend, whom I had not visited for several weeks—my residence being at that time in Charleston, a distance of nine miles from the island, while the facilities of passage and repassage were very far behind those of the present day. Upon reaching the hut I rapped, as was my custom, and, getting no reply, sought for the key where I knew it was secreted, unlocked the door, and went in. A fine fire was blazing upon the hearth. It was a novelty, and by no means an ungrateful one. ”

“ The huts here are like those already described, only they are dry because of the porous character of the ground. Three or four families live in one each having a private polog of deer-skins, of which there are several thicknesses on the floor. We were shown into one—the snuggest storm nest imaginable, and perfectly clean. The common hut is far otherwise; dogs mingle with the food, hair is everywhere, and strangely persistent smells that defy even the Arctic frosts. The children seemed in fair ratio with the adults. ”

“ On fine nights, the climber is more comfort able outside.
Route: The hut is reached by a trail along the north side of Bear Creek. It is customary, however, to follow up the bed of the railway. A mile easterly from the station, the path begins t<' ascend and zigzags up the mountain side. Although very steep in places, ponies may be taken up.
View: The hut is set on a prominent place commanding a splendid view of the pass beneath and of the upper valley of the Illecillewaet; also, of the Sir Donald Range and Glacier, Mt. Bonney and the Bonny Amphitheatre. ”