Sketches From Oldest America 



which shows the hunter where a bear is to be pro 

 cured. She makes a hole in the ice, at one end of 

 the room, through which she can dive to procure a 

 seal when hungry. Here she has a warm, com 

 fortable home for herself and cub, where they re 

 main until the warmer weather of spring reminds 

 the family that it is time to begin their travels with 

 the ice pack. 



Man imitated the bear in constructing his iglo. 

 First excavating the ground for a short distance, he 

 erected over it a frame of driftwood and whale 

 jaws. At one end of the room the excavation was 

 made somewhat deeper, a hole large enough to ad 

 mit a man being left in the floor over the excavation 

 to serve as an entrance, and a driftwood passageway 

 ending at a mound left open at the top, whose 

 elevation prevented the snow drifting in, made an exit 

 to the outer world. A small hole in the roof of the 

 one room acted as a ventilator and a larger one 

 covered with the dried intestines of a seal served as 

 a window. All was then covered over with sods 

 and earth, making a home constructed on the same 

 principle as that of the bear; one that resisted the 

 cold and could be easily warmed by the seal-oil 

 lamp. The same principle is still adhered to in 

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