ACKOSS THE SUB-ARCTICS OF CANADA 



fully by chewing them. What to us would seem the disagree- 

 able part of this operation cannot be thoroughly understood 

 by one who has not some idea of the flavor of a genuine old 

 Eskimo shoe. 



In one of my trips in the land of the Eskimo I had an 

 escort composed not only of men and women, old and young, 

 but also of little children, several of whom could not have 

 been more than five or six years old, and it was marvellous 

 to see the powers of endurance of these little creatures, for 

 they travelled along with the rest of the party, a distance of 

 twenty-five miles, having no other object in view than that 

 of seeing the white stranger. 



The " shin-ig-bee," or Eskimo sleeping-bag, is an article 

 essential to the comfort of the traveller when making long 

 ■overland journeys during the cold winter season. It consists 

 of a long, oval, waterproof skin bag, lined with another of 

 similar shape, made of soft but heavy winter deerskins. 

 The opening is not at the top, but near it, across one side, 

 and is made with flap and buttons, so that it can be closed 

 Tip as closely as desired. 



When the traveller is provided with this kind of a bed he 

 does not trouble himself to make a snow lodge for the night, 

 as without it he would have to do, but he simply crawls into 

 Tiis " shin-ig-bee," buttons up the opening on the windward 

 side, and goes to sleep, no matter what the weather or tem- 

 perature may be. With the mercury at 40 below zero a man 

 may in this way sleep warm and comfortable, without any 

 "fire, out upon the bleak frozen plains. 



ESKIMO SLEEPING-BAG. 



138 



