68 THE CHILDREN OF THE COLD. 



the very funniest material imagina- 

 ble pure ice, cut from the nearest lake 

 or river. 



If the sleds of ice, judging from the 

 one in the illustration, seem rather 

 bulky, they are much stronger than you 

 would imagine, and the boys can coast 

 downhill without breaking them, pro- 

 vided the changes in the slope are 

 gradual and there are no stones or ice- 

 hummocks protruding through the snow. 

 Even the grown people occasionally use 

 these primitive sledges when dragging 

 their effects over the smooth salt-water 

 ice near the shore-line of the sea. The 

 snow-knife, which I represented among 

 the tools that are used to build the igloo, 

 or native snow house, is the implement 

 employed to cut or chip out the ice- 

 sledge. There is one advantage to be 



