THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



649 



light. The women are perfect in the art of making water-tight 

 shirts, or " Karuleikas," of the entrails of the seal or walrus, 

 which in summer serve to replace their heavy skin jackets. They 

 also sew their boots so tight that not the slightest wet can pene- 

 trate, and with a neatness of which the best shoemaker in Europe 

 might be proud. The dress of the two sexes is much alike, the 

 outer jacket having a pointed skirt before and behind, but that 

 of the females is a little longer. The women also wear larger 

 hoods, in which they carry their children ; and sometimes the 

 inner boot has in 

 front a long, pointed 

 flap, to answer the 

 same purpose. 



The Esquimaux are 

 no less skillful in the 

 construction of their 

 dome-shaped huts of 

 a single room . These 

 they make from 

 blocks of frozen 

 snow, which are cut 

 out with knives made 

 of walrus bone. 

 These blocks are not 

 more than two inches 

 thick, and thus admit 

 considerable light while serving well to keep out the wind. 

 When more light is required, a small window is cut, over which 

 a sheet of ice is placed, or a well-oiled piece of dried deer skin. 



To secure warmth in specially severe seasons, which it seems 

 they have a faculty of forecasting, the Esquimaux dig out a large 

 space, deep enough to contain their huts, so that the dome will 

 be even with the surface of the earth. To reach this under- 

 ground habitation they dig a tunnel, usually about fifteen feet 

 long, which first slants downward, then upward, where it enters 

 the hut ; the tunnel is so low that it can only be entered by 



ESQUIMAU WOMAN AND CHILD. 



