490 



AKCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



igloo was reached. The heat that had been generated within from 

 the fire-light had turned the snow of which it was made into solid 



SEEKING THE LOST VILLAGE. 



ice, and I had difficulty in getting a hole through this. All this 

 time we were exposed to the wind, blowing its cold, freezing blast 

 from the northwest. My snow-knife gave way in cutting this icy 

 dome, and I was obliged to take in its place the seal-spear. With 

 this I quickly penetrated the wall under me, thus revealing the 

 fact that a lining, or second envelope, was yet to be cut through 

 before I could determine my success in finding her whom I sought. 

 It is a custom quite prevalent with the Innuits to line their snow- 

 houses with sealskins, or such sail-cloth as they occasionally ob- 

 tain from the whalers, for the object of shedding the droppings 

 from the melting dome of the igloo, which follow when a large 

 fire-light is kept burning, or when the weather becomes very mod- 

 erate. 



" This igloo I found to be lined with both sealskins and sail- 

 cloth sewed together. With the knife I made an opening through 

 this material. Throwing back its folds, and peering down into 

 the interior, I there beheld her whom my soul aspired to help 

 and to save. But she moved not, she answered not to my call. 

 Could she be slumbering so soundly, so sweetly, that the ordi- 

 nary tone of the human voice could not arouse her ? There she 

 was, her face turned to the wall at her right, reclining in her 

 couch, fully enveloped in bed -covering. Enlarging the opening 

 I had already made for the purpose of descending into this igloo, 

 I called first to my Innuit friend to come near me. With cau- 

 tious steps he approached. I told him the discovery I had made, 

 and that I wished him to assist me as I descended, and to remain 



