CHAPTER XIX 



the roosevelt's narrow escape 



IT is perfectly true that the building business is not 

 extensive in the arctic regions, but it is also a fact 

 that if you expect to travel extensively there you 

 must know how to build your own dwellings. If you 

 neglect to instruct yourself in this direction the chances 

 are that some time or other you will regret it. 



Toward the end of the autumn field work, the use of 

 the canvas tents had been discontinued, and snow igloos 

 had been constructed along the line of march. These 

 were permanent, and were used by the various parties, 

 one after the other. The new members of the expedi- 

 tion were instructed in the art of igloo building by Mar- 

 vin, Henson, and the Eskimos. No man should go into 

 the field in the North in winter unless he knows how to 

 build a shelter for himself against the cold and the 

 storm. 



The size of the igloo depends usually upon the num- 

 ber of men in the party. If built for three men, it will 

 be about five by eight feet on the inside; if for five men, 

 it will be about eight by ten, in order to give greater 

 width to the sleeping platform. 



Four good men can build one of these snow houses 

 in an hour. Each takes a saw knife from the up-stand- 

 ers of the sledge and sets to work cutting snow blocks. 

 The saw knives are about eighteen inches long and are 



172 



