56 THENORTHPOLE 



At the farther end of the igloo is the bed platform, 

 raised about a foot and a half above the earthen 

 floor. Usually this platform is not built, but is the 

 natural level of the earth, the standing space being 

 dug before it. In some houses, however, the bed plat- 

 form is made of long, flat stones raised upon stone 

 supports. When the Eskimos are ready to move into 

 the stone houses in the fall, they cover the bed platform 

 first with grass, which they bring in by the sledge- 

 load; the grass is then covered with sealskins; above 

 these are spread deerskins, or musk-ox skins, — which 

 form the mattress. Deerskins are used for blankets. 

 Pajamas are not in fashion with the Eskimos. They 

 simply remove all their clothes and crawl in between 

 the deerskins. 



The lamp, which stands on a large stone at the 

 front of the bed platform on one side, is kept burning 

 all the time, whether the family is asleep or awake. 

 An imaginative person might liken this lamp to an 

 ever-burning sacred flame upon the stone altar of the 

 Eskimo home. It serves also as a stove for heating 

 and cooking, and makes the igloo so warm that the 

 inhabitants wear little clothing when indoors. They 

 sleep with their heads toward the lamp, so the woman 

 may reach out and tend it. 



On the other side of the house food is generally 

 stored. When two families occupy one igloo, there 

 may be a second lamp on the other side; and in that 

 case the food must be stored under the bed. The 

 temperature of these houses varies from eighty or ninety 

 degrees Fahrenheit, on the bed platform and near the 

 roof, to something below freezing point at the floor 



