68 MARINE AND AQUATIC TRESPASSERS. 



Another law of Nature is then brought into play. 

 If the superincumbent weight of the ice and snow 

 were to produce no mechanical effect on the water on 

 which it floats, the mother Seal would have great 

 difficulty in ascending the tunnel, if, indeed, she did 

 not find it impossible. But the pressure forces the 

 water to such a height, that the animal can rise nearly 

 to the surface of the ice, and can easily scramble to 

 the assistance of her offspring. 



Thus we see how the same property of matter 

 i.e., a slow conducting of heat, can be employed for 

 the use of the same animal in three different ways. 

 Directly applied to itself in the way of the fatty layer 

 beneath the skin and the coating of fur outside the 

 body, it prevents the animal heat from escaping into the 

 surrounding water, ice, and cold atmosphere. Indirectly 

 applied, in the form of snow and ice, it preserves the 

 sea from being wholly frozen ; and in the form of snow, 

 it affords to the young Seal a warm residence. 



It is well known that owing to the non-conducting 

 power of snow, the snow-house of the Esquimaux is 

 not only warm, but so hot, that although it is only 

 warmed by the lamp, the inhabitants are often obliged 

 to throw off all their clothes. Indeed, were it not for 

 this property, the Esquimaux could not sustain ex- 

 istence. In their country no tree can grow, and there 

 is absolutely nothing with which the inhabitants can 

 build a house, except the snow. This, however, is 

 always at hand; and so, where an European would 

 speedily lose his life by the frost, the Esquimaux finds 

 a warm and comfortable refuge from the cold. Ex- 

 perienced travellers in cold climates have long known 



