32 NATURAL HISTORY OF ARCTIC AMERICA. 



also serves to stand on while constructing the wall, a\ hich is always done 

 lioiii tlic inside, tlic builder being furnished with fresh snow-blocks from 

 tlie outside when his suijjily gives out. The wall is built in a si)iral form, 

 so that, if ^ iewed from above, it would haAC the appearance of a conical 

 coil. 



'Jlie only tools used in building are a saw, if they can get it, for saw- 

 ing out the blocks, and a long knife, made from a walrus tusk, for trim- 

 ming them into shape. In cutting and fitting the blocks of snow, they 

 show skill and ingenuity, so that they make as perfect an arch as the best 

 mason. When tlie hut is done, or rather enclosed, there is neither door 

 nor Mindow, and the builder is a prisoner. A door, however, is soon 

 made, but at the opposite end from where the entrance is to be; through 

 this aperture the women and children begin dragging in the "furniture," 

 while the men "chink'' up the i>laces where the blocks join each other. 

 The structure is so strong that it readily bears a man's weight on the 

 top. AVhen ever;\-thing is ready inside and out, the lamps are lit; some- 

 times more than the usual number are procured, and trimmed to burn as 

 brightly as possible; the heat begins to melt the inner surface of the 

 structure, but it soon freezes and forms quite a coating of ice; this, of 

 course, adds considerably to the strength of the buihling. The inside is 

 now lined with the seal-skin tent of their summer toopiks, fastened up 

 all around the sides and top by means of small pegs of wood or bone. 

 A window is cut through the wall over the entrance-way, facing the 

 south; it consists of a half-moon-shai)ed bow of whalebone, over which 

 are stretched the intestines of Phocaharhata., sewed together lengthwise. 

 This window admits the light quite well. 



The entrances are long, low structures, sometimes oidy two, often four 

 or even li\'e. They gradually diminish in size from the igloo, but each 

 t)ne has a door, which is so low and narrow that a large person is unable 

 to get through them, even on hands and knees. The <loor to the hut 

 pro])er is barricaded at night with a slab of iceor the scajiula of a wliale. 

 Ice is also sometimes substituted instead of seals' intestines for the win- 

 dow. On either side of the entrance-ways, the dogs are allowed to lie, 

 but never inside the dwelling apartment. 



Alionl one-liiiir ot" the lioor at th<' end opposite the entrance-way is 

 from one to two feet hi.uher tlian the rest. On tliis jilatloiin they keep 

 all their skins, and it is used for a general lounging and slee]ting ]>lace. 

 ( )n the to)) of the snow ihey lay a coating of Cassiopc tctraf/ona, or some- 

 thing of this ;;ort, and neatly spread the skins over it. One can see at 



