138 
SURVIVAL ON LAND AND SEA 
soft, dry, powdery tinder must be used. In an emergency cloth 
can be unravelled and shredded. Very dry dead grass, cedar 
or birch bark, or moss may be used, but it must be finely shred- 
ded or pulverized. The best tinder— the kind used by the Barren 
Ground and Arctic coast Eskimos — is the fluffy down of the 
“cotton grass” that grows on the tundra in summer, or the fuzz 
from the drooping flowers or buds of the Arctic w’illow (Fig. 48) . 
When a spark has ignited the tinder it must be blown gently to 
produce a flame. To make the tinder more inflammable, the Eski- 
mos sprinkle on it a small amount of gunpowder or powdered 
charcoal from charred sticks. 
SHELTER 
If stranded in deep snow without equipment, a trench can be 
dug to a depth of several feet and the floor packed down by 
stamping until it is solid. The top of the trench can then be 
covered with a parachute or whatever may be available. Such 
a shelter breaks the wind for its occupants. Northern Indians 
when unable to get back to their camp or village often burrow 
a sleeping hole into the side of a snow bank. A breathing hole 
should be left open and one should be on the watch and ready 
to move if deep drifts form. The Indians also make a snow’ 
house by piling up a heap of snow about the size of a small 
haystack, patting down the surface with their snowshoes. 
After standing for about 30 minutes, in very cold weather, the 
outer surface freezes into a thin crust which makes a good roof 
when the pile of snow is hollowed out. To do this they tunnel 
into one side of the heap, one man passing the snow' out to the 
others, until only a shell some or so inches thick is left. The 
snow floor is packed and, when possible covered with spruce 
boughs. It is important to have an air hole at the top and at 
