38 HUTS OF SNOW. 



nor the external cold to enter in. It has been found that the 

 inner surface of the snow seldom falls much below 32 F., 

 although the temperature of the external air may be many 

 degrees under the freezing-point; and it is known that this 

 amount of cold can be endured by the crops without injury, 

 so long as their covering protects them from the raking in- 

 fluence of the wind. In climates where the winter's cold 

 is longer and more intense than in England, the protective 

 influence of snow is much more plainly shown. Where it 

 lies long and deep, it opens out routes that were impracticable 

 in summer on account of their ruggedness, and prepares a 

 smooth path for the sledge, or for the " lumberer," over which 

 the largest trunks of the forest may be carried with ease to the 

 river or canal. 



In the polar regions (we quote from Dr Child) snow 

 supplies the ever-ready material out of which the Esqui- 

 maux construct their houses, and hardy explorers extem- 

 porise the huts in which they find shelter when absent 

 from their ships on distant expeditions. Nor are the ships 

 themselves considered "snug winter quarters" until their 

 sides have been banked up in walls of snow, and the roof 

 raised over the deck has been thickly covered with it. 

 Snow huts are warmer than might have been expected. If 

 built upon ice over the sea, their temperature is sensibly 

 influenced by the heat of the unfrozen water below, which 

 is said seldom to fall much under 40 F. in any part of 

 the ocean. Even where the external temperature has sunk 

 to 20 or 30 below zero, sufficient warmth is produced in 



