The winter residence of Loonerkoo, the father of Polargno, was constructed in the following manner: Blocks of snow two feet long, and six inches wide and several inches thick, were cut out from the great snow heaps that abounded everywhere. These were carefully pared with a large knife and made even and smooth. They were then built into a dome. A good many layers of blocks were used to make the walls very thick and solid. There were two windows in this dome, and what do you think they were made of? Each one was a single, inch thick square of transparent, fresh water ice. There was not the least danger of its melting from the heat of the house, the outside cold being too intense for that to happen. There was no door to this house, but there was quite a large doorway. A hole was left in the wall. It was not more than three feet high, and everybody, except very little children crawled into it on their hands and knees. The passage way was no higher, and was about sixteen feet long, so that this crawling back and forth was somewhat wearing on the clothes, although the floor was of ice and snow instead of the rough ground. This entrance was made low and narrow, so as to shut out as much cold air as possible. The next thing was to make a chimney. This was easy enough. They simply cut a hole in the roof of the dome of snow. This contrivance did not always work well, as the wind sometimes blew the smoke back into the room as fast as it came out of it, but the Esquimaux are used to smoke in their houses; and, supposing it to be one of the necessary evils of life, are quite content to have it when it cannot be helped. Inside of this dome there was one large, circular room. In most Esquimaux houses this was reception-room, dining-room, bed-room, and kitchen, all in one. But a few very elegant dwellings, and, among them Loonerkoo’s, had curtains of skins hung up so as to make a couple of bed-rooms. It may make you shiver when I tell you how they made their bedsteads. These were blocks of snow, making a platform a couple of feet high, and five and six feet long. On them whalebones and seal skins were laid for mattresses. The coverlets consisted of nice, warm furs. Exactly in the middle of the large room a circular platform was made with blocks of snow. On this stood the lamp for cooking purposes, and over it was a wooden scaffolding on which the cooking utensils were hung. The lamp was nothing but a dish, filled with whale oil and blubber, with a long wick of dry moss. Around the walls the weapons and clothes of the family were hung. This was all the furniture the house contained, and it was quite enough for these simple people. Warm clothing, plenty to eat, and comfortable places to sleep were all they required.