SNOW HOUSES OP THE ESQUIMAUX. 261 



great luxury, an icy cold draught, is produced by covering the mouth of 

 the glass tumbler with snow, and pouring the wine through it, and then 

 it is truly delicious. 



While the rich are thus supplied with this luxury, the itinerant 

 venders supply the poorer classes. Every summer evening, on the long 

 mole, by the port, and all frequented places, these eloquent and noisy 

 dealers ply their trade. Their wares of course are not so good, but then 

 they are much cheaper, and they are always cold! There for three or 

 four grains the sailor, the fisherman, the thirsty calassiero, or other 

 labouring man, can obtain that neplus ultra of luxury a long mouthful 

 of something cold and sweet. On the evenings of church festivals and 

 holidays, the trade carried on in this^way is very extensive indeed, and 

 on such occasions the flying snow sellers are found in every crowded 

 place, maintaining a deafening rivalry with the venders of water melons 

 and other luxuries. 



SNOW HOUSES OF THE ESQUIMAUX. 



Sir John Franklin, in his visit to the Polar Sea, says, "I saw one 

 of these constructed by Augustus to-day. Having selected a spot on 

 the river where the snow was about two feet deep, and sufficiently 

 compact, he commenced by tracing a circle, twelve feet in diameter. 

 The snow in the interior of the circle was next divided with a broad 

 knife having a long handle, into slabs three feet long, six inches thick 

 and two deep, being the thickness of the layer of snow. These slabs 

 were tenacious enough to admit of being moved about without breaking, 

 or even losing the sharpness of their angles, and they had a slight 

 degree of curvature, corresponding with that of the circle from which 

 they were cut. They were piled upon each other exactly like courses of 

 hewn stone, around the circle, which was traced out, and care was taken 

 to smooth the beds of the different courses with the knife, and to cut 

 them so as to give the wall a slight inclination inwards. The dome was 

 closed somewhat suddenly and flatly, by cutting the upper slabs in a 

 wedge form, instead of the more rectangular shape of those below. The 

 roof was about eight feet high, and the last aperture was shut up by a 

 small conical piece. The whole was built from within, and each slab 

 was cut so that it retained its position without requiring support until 

 another was placed beside i#J the lightness of the slabs greatly facilitating 

 the operation. When the building was covered in, a little loose snow was 



