420 FARTHEST NORTH 



corner of the wall, which led into a short passage dug out 

 in the ground and subsequently roofed over with blocks 

 of ice, on very much the same principle as the passage to 

 an Eskimos house. We had not dug this passage so 

 lono[ as we wished before the "'round was frozen too 

 hard for our implements. It was so low that we had to 

 creep through it in a squatting posture to get into the 

 hut. The inner opening was covered with a bearskin 

 curtain, sewed firmly to the walrus hide of the roof; the 

 outer end was covered with a loose bearskin laid over the 

 opening. It began to grow cold now, as low as —20^ C. 

 (4° below zero, P^ahr.); and living in our low den, where 

 we had not room to move, became more and more in- 

 tolerable. The smoke, too, from the oil-lamp, when we 

 did anv cookiiig, always affected our eyes. We grew 

 daily more impatient to move into our new house, n'hich 

 now appeared to us tlie acme of comfort. Our ever- 

 recurring remark while we were building was, how nice 

 and snug it would be when we got in, and we depicted 

 to each other the many pleasant hours we should spend 

 there. We were, of course, anxious to discover all the 

 bright points that we could in our existence. The hut 

 was certainly not large; it was 10 feet long and 6 feet 

 wide, and when you lav across it you kicked the wall on 

 one side and butted it on the other. You could n^ove 

 in it a little, however, and even I could almost stand up- 

 right under the roof. This was a thought which es- 

 pecially appealed to us. Fancy having a place sheltered 



