DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING WATER. 499 



it was impossible to furnish them with half as much as they 

 desired." * In the extreme north, one of the principal duties 

 of the women in the winter is to thaw snow over their lamps, 

 feeding the wick with oil if it does not rise well of its own 

 accord ;( the natural heat of the room is not sufficient to 

 melt snow, as the temperature of the huts is always kept, if 

 possible, below the freezing-point. In South Greenland, how- 

 ever, the huts are built of turf, etc., and are very warm. J But 

 we must remember that coolness, rather than heat, is required 

 by the Esquimaux who live in snow dwellings, because if the 

 temperature rises to thirty-two degrees, the continual dripping 

 from the roof produces extreme inconvenience, and, in fact, 

 the most unhealthy season is the spring, when the weather is 

 too warm for snow huts and too cold for tents. Thus, there- 

 fore, the Esquimaux, though living in a climate so extremely 

 rigorous, would be debarred from the use of fires by the very 

 nature of their dwellings, even if they were enabled to obtain 

 the necessary materials. They never, says Simpson, " seem 

 to think of fire as a means of imparting warmth ;" their 

 lamps are used for cooking, for light, and for melting snow 

 and drying clothes, rather than to warm the air,|| and as, 

 nevertheless, the body temperature of the Esquimaux is 

 almost the same as ours, it is evident that they must require 

 a large amount of animal food. The quantity of meat which 

 they consume is astonishing ; and it is worthy of remark that, 

 from the scarcity of wood in the far north, they use the same 

 substance for food and fuel ; the calorific material being the 

 same namely, blubber whether the heat is to be obtained 

 by digestion or combustion ; whether the material is to be 

 placed in a lamp and burnt, or to be eaten and digested. In 

 summer, however, when it is less necessary to keep down the 



* I.e. p. 188. Discoveries in North America, 



t Osborn's Arctic Journal, p. 17. p. 346. 



Egede, 1. c. p. 116. || Kane, 1. c, vol. ii. p. 202. 



2 K 2 



