A SNOW HOUSE STORY lOI 



and the boys Benjie and Jako and Rena and the 

 others were shouting and laughing as they crawled 

 in and out. 



In the north, where wood cannot be found, there 

 are villages of snow ; but on most of the coast of 

 Labrador the Eskimos have learnt a liking for houses 

 more secure and lasting, and so they dwell in homes 

 of wood and turf walled round, maybe, with snow 

 for warmth and leave the building of real snow 

 houses for the travelling times, when shelter is 

 wanted on journeys. 



I have many memories of old travelling times, 

 when we camped on mountain passes or on the 

 shores of the frozen sea ; but perhaps the most real 

 memory of all is of the time when a great procession 

 of sledges, headed by the proud and happy little 

 John, came to a halt with the waning of daylight 

 on the summit of the Kiglapeit Pass, and there in 

 the wilderness we built our houses of snow and laid 

 us down to rest. Surely of all strange places the 

 strangest in which to worship God. But here is the 

 story of it. 



All day long we had toiled through the snow and 

 the driving wind, and only the Labrador traveller 

 can know the weariness of such a toiling. We had 

 reached our looked-for camping place ; men and 

 dogs had struggled bravely up the pass in the 

 gathering gloom, and we were on the summit of the 

 Kiglapeit. The wind had fallen with the waning 

 daylight, and happy little John, the best of 

 drivers, was hoping for a fine day and a quick run 

 to-morrow. As soon as the sledges had come to a 



