40 THE CHILDREN OF THE COLD. 



or walk right over it without tumbling it 

 in the native architects throw a deep 

 bank of loose snow over it all, burying it 

 in a covering of snow from a foot to three 

 feet thick ; so you can see that there is a 

 good thick wall between little Boreas 

 inside his home and the cold weather 

 outside. This snow is thrown up with 

 great wide shovels of wooden boards, 

 dextrously sewed together with reindeer 

 sinew, and the handle in the center made 

 of a curved piece of musk-ox horn. 

 The inner edge of the shovel, which 

 would soon wear off digging in the hard, 

 frozen snows is protected by a tip made 

 from the toughest part of a reindeer's 

 horn. A snow-shovel is always carried 

 by the Eskimo on their travels. The 

 knives with which they cut the blocks of 

 snow are like great long-bladed butcher- 



