42 THE CHILDREN OF THE COLD. 



thick house of snow, with the snow-door 

 tightly fastened up to keep out the dogs 

 and cold, smother to death for want of 

 fresh air? And if they do not smother, 

 where does the fresh air come from ? 

 The frozen snow is about as porous 

 as white sugar, and all boys and girls 

 know they can draw in air through a 

 lump of it, or, if they do not know it, 

 they can try the experiment. Well, in 

 the same way, the cold air from the out- 

 side passes very slowly through the thick 

 snow wall as fast as the people inside use 

 up that in the igloo ; not so fast but that 

 they can warm it with their little stone 

 lamps as it comes in, unless there is a 

 strong gale of wind on the outside to 

 blow it through. I was at one time in a 

 very thick igloo, probably four feet 

 through, but the snow was very hard and 



