164 NATURE'S TEACHINGS. 



which he is placed. Captain Hall mentions, in his "Life with 

 the Esquimaux," that one of the natives, named Kudlago, who 

 was returning to his native country after visiting the United 

 States, died while on board the ship. Towards the end of his 

 life he was yearning for ice, and his last intelligible words 

 were, " Do you see ice ? Do you see ice ? " 



On the vast plains of ice that are formed in the winter-time 

 the snow lies thickly, and yet upon such an inhospitable spot 

 the mother seal has to make a home for her tender young. 

 This she does in the following manner : 



She has already preserved a " breathing hole " in the ice, 

 through which she can inhale air. How she finds so small a 

 hole under the surface of the ice, where there are no landmarks 

 to guide her, is a marvel to every swimmer. She has to chase 

 fish and follow them in all their winding courses, and yet, 

 when she is in want of air, is able to go straight to her breath- 

 ing hole, and there take in a fresh supply of oxygen. 



When she is about to become a mother, she enlarges this 

 breathing hole so as to make it into a perpendicular tunnel. 

 She then, with the sharp nails of her fore-paws, or flippers, 

 scoops away the snow in a dome-like form, as shown in the 

 illustration, taking the snow down with her through the ice, 

 and allowing it to be carried away by the water. By degrees 

 she makes a tolerably large excavation of a hemispherical shape, 

 and when her young is born she deposits it on the ice-ledge 

 around the tunnel. From ordinary foes the young Seal is safe, 

 and nothing can discover the position of the house unless 

 guided by the sense of smell. 



How the Polar Bear and the Esquimaux hunter discover the 

 dwelling and capture the inmates we have already described 

 in the chapter treating of War and Hunting. Our present 

 business is with the dwelling itself. Comparatively few of 

 these snow-houses, or igloos, as they are called, are dis- 

 covered, and they remain intact until the summer sun melts 

 the roof and exposes the habitation. By this time, however, 

 the young Seal has grown sufficiently to shift for itself, and no 

 longer needs the shelter of a dwelling. 



THE winter hut, or igloo, of the Esquimaux is made of 

 exactly the same shape and of similar materials to the dwelling 



