HOME LIFE IN THE IGLOOS 127 



was begun, heavy black clouds, pushing in from the 

 westward, obscured the sky and stars and engulfed 

 the world in pitchy darkness. I supposed that the 

 Eskimos would head directly for the igloo, but pres- 

 ently found that our course was landward. Here 

 I discovered that my companions had set several fox- 

 traps, all of which were visited before a long hard 

 walk in the darkness over rough country and rougher 

 ice brought us to Annootok just in time to escape 

 a blizzard, which suddenly broke upon us and for 

 two days swept the country with terrific fury. The 

 cold accompanying the storm was so intense that the 

 day following our return I froze cheeks and nose 

 in passing the short distance between my shack and 

 Kulutinguah's igloo about three hundred yards. 



Referring to the igloos, each of the Eskimos had 

 now, as a further protection against the cold, built 

 a large snow igloo at the entrance to the tunnel 

 leading to his stone igloo, and had covered the stone 

 hut with thick blocks of snow. With this further 

 shutting out of air circulation the offensive odor in 

 the igloos had increased proportionately. This odor 

 was now so terrible that it is beyond the power 

 of pen to describe it. One may however appreciate 

 it to some extent by likening it to a slaughter-house, 

 where refuse is permitted to decay with never an 

 attempt at cleansing or renovation. 



Upon entering an igloo one sees spread about the 

 floor indiscriminately great pieces of walrus, seal and 

 bear meat or blubber hundreds of pounds of it 

 in various degrees of decomposition. Suspended 



