192 BY ESKIMO DOG-SLED 



his mind that he will build himself a nice new 

 wooden home. 



Some fine spring morning he calls his dogs 

 together, and hies him to the woods. He 

 builds a tiny snow hut for shelter, and lives 

 on tough dried meat. He is after timber for 

 a house, and from dawn to dusk he searches 

 for the best of the poor stunted trees and chops 

 them down. Then he builds a sort of scaffold, 

 and gets his wife to help him saw the planks. 

 Many a time have I seen them at work with 

 their big pit -saws : the man is top sawyer on 

 the scaffold, while the woman stands below 

 and does her share, and so they get planks for 

 their home. Building begins later on, for the 

 seal hunting and the cod fishing are too 

 important to be missed ; but, sooner or later, 

 before the next winter is due the Eskimo gets 

 busy. He lays a foundation of stones from 

 the beach or the hillside, and builds his beams 

 and joists upon it ; he works long hours, 

 intent and serious, until he can proudly fling 

 his tools down and say, " My house is built." 



So your Eskimo gets his house : now to 

 teach him to keep it nice ! That is the dif- 

 ficulty. I wanted the men to make windows 

 that could be opened quite a new thing for 

 them, for the old Eskimo huts had hardly any 

 window at all, and never a whiff of fresh air 



