[27. THE ESKIMOS.]
Amongst the Eskimos.
1. Here is another picture for you. Look at it carefully. It shows you the people who live in the far north of Canada. They are called Eskimos.
2. In the upper part of the picture you see a man on a sledge. He is dressed in furs, and has fur gloves on his hands. His head and ears are covered with a hood. In the far north of Canada the cold is so bitter in winter that men's hands and ears would be frost-bitten if they were not kept warm in this way.
3. In winter the sea and the land are thickly frozen over. The whole country is covered with ice and snow. The Eskimo has to travel over the ice to get from place to place. He uses a sledge drawn by dogs. There is a team of dogs in the upper part of the picture.
4. Sometimes the sledge is overturned, and the men and dogs are thrown into deep, wide cracks in the ice. Sometimes fierce storms arise, and men and dogs perish together. Sometimes food runs short, and they die of hunger.
5. In the middle part of the picture you see a tent. The Eskimos can only live in tents during the short summers; during the long dark winters they live in huts. The walls are made of stones and sods. The roof is of wood which has drifted to their shores. You must remember that no trees will grow in these very cold lands.
6. Some Eskimos make their winter houses of blocks of snow, with sheets of ice for the windows. Perhaps you shiver at the thought of living in a snow house, but you need not do so.