GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



snow -house. The big blocks of snow which constitute the 

 material of this house are cut out of the hard drifts of snow 

 with long knives. These snow-houses are built with great in- 

 genuity. The inside arrangement corresponds to that of the 

 stone houses, skins covering walls and roof. No block-house 

 in the world can compete with a well-built snow-house as 

 regards warmth. 



The short summer is the time of the bracing life in the 

 tents ; here also we meet with the roomy stone bench which, 

 with all its paraphernalia, makes a delicious resting-place for 

 the night. The skin tents consist of two layers of sealskins on 

 top of each other ; they can therefore with ease resist the rain 

 under all conditions. Here also are burning blubber lamps 

 which give to the tent such a temperature that one can live in 

 it until, by the end of September, winter supersedes autumn. 



PLACES OF HABITATION WHICH ARE CHRISTENED 

 BY THE WIND 



The permanent camps reach from Cape Seddon in Mel- 

 ville Bay right up to Humboldt's Glacier. As the tribe 

 consists of so few individuals, there is plenty of elbow room for 

 the hunters, and at the same time the game is given an excellent 

 chance of renewal and breeding. For this little handful of 

 hunters is distributed over a stretch of 800 kilometres. 



The Polar Eskimos themselves classify their places of 

 habitation according to the wind in the following districts : 



Nigerdlit : Those who live nearest to the south-west 



wind. 

 Akunarmiut : Those who live between the winds. 

 Orqordlit : Those who live in the lee of the south-west 



wind. 

 Avangnardlit : Those who live next to the north wind. 



By Nigeq they do not mean merely the south-west wind 

 itself. Here is included also the mild Fohn-w'md, which comes 

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