132 THE FUR COUNTRY. snow, with an opening in the summit, through which the smoke from the fire inside made its way. These snow-houses, called igloos in the language of the Esquimaux, are constructed with great rapidity, and are admirably suited to the climate. In them their owners can endure a temperature 40° below zero, without fires, and without suffering much. In the summer the Esquimaux encamp in tents made of seal and reindeer skins, which are called tupics. It was no easy matter to get into this hut. The only opening was a hole close to the ground, and it was necessary to creep through a kind of passage three or four feet long, which is about the thickness of the walls of these snow houses. But a traveller by profession, a laureate of the Royal Society, could not hesitate, and Mrs Paulina Barnett did not hesitate ! Followed by Madge, she bravely entered the narrow tunnel in imitation of her guide. Lieutenant Hobson and his men dispensed with paying their respects inside. And Mrs Barnett soon discovered that the chief difficulty was not getting into the hut, but remaining in it when there. The room was heated by a fire, on which the bones of morses were burning ; and the air was full of the smell of the fetid oil of a lamp, of greasy garments, and the flesh of the amphibious animals which form the chief article of an Esquimaux's diet. It was suffocating and sick- ening ! Madge could not stand it, and hurried out at once, but Mrs Barnett, rather than hurt the feelings of the young native, showed superhuman courage, and extended her visit over five long minutes ! — five centuries ! The two cliildren and their mother were at home, but the men had gone to hunt morses four or five miles from their camp. Once out of the hut, Mrs Barnett drew a long sigh of relief, and the colour returned to her blanched cheeks. "Well, madam," inquired the Lieutenant, " what do you think of Esquimaux bouses ? " " The ventilation leaves something to be desired ! " she replied simply. The interesting native family remained encamped near Cape Esquimaux for eight days. The men passed twelve hours out of every twenty-four hunting morses. With a patience which none but sportsmen could understand, they would watch for the amphibious animals near the holes through which they come up to the surface of the ice-field to breathe. When the morse appears, a. rope with a running noose is flung round its body a little below the
