166 HUNTERS OF THE GREAT NORTH 



room soon brought the mask off in one piece. Under it 

 my face had been slightly frozen all the way from the 

 roots of my hair down to my neck, even including the 

 eyelid of the eye that had been kept closed. The freezing 

 was only skin-deep and no worse than a sunburn, except 

 on the chin where it had gone almost to the bone. I had 

 a sore there for two or three weeks and the scar did not 

 disappear for a few months. The lesson was well worth 

 it, however, for I have never since worn a beard in cold 

 weather, nor have I since had my face seriously frozen. 



The whole matter of keeping your face from freezing 

 is to keep your hands warm so that you can use them for 

 thawing purposes if your face begins to freeze. If you 

 are traveling against a head wind with a temperature 

 anything like 30 ° or 40 ° below zero, more or less freezing 

 of the face is sure to take place. You keep making 

 grimaces, for freezing is painless and you can detect it 

 only by a stiffening of your chin or cheek. Occasionally 

 you take one hand furtively out of the mitten and feel 

 over the face to see if any part is getting stiff. If you 

 find a little stiffening in the skin of the cheek or the chin 

 you hold the warm hand on it for a moment until it is 

 gone. 



If the weather is exceedingly bad — say 50 ° below zero 

 with a moderately strong wind — a different method is 

 used. The cut of both your outer and inner caribou skin 

 coats is such that if you want to you can withdraw your 

 arm from the sleeve and hold it on your bare breast inside 

 of the clothing, tucking the empty sleeve into your belt to 

 prevent the cold getting in that way. The neck of both 

 coats is made loose and you can shove your warm hand 

 up through. If any part IS getting stiff you hold your 

 hand over it as long as may be necessary to thaw it 



