The influence of climate upon dress is a subject which we commend to the notice of art-critics and æsthetic philosophers. Within the Arctic Circle the problem to be solved is, how to obtain the greatest amount of protection for the person, without rendering the costume too heavy or cumbrous; and the Eskimos have succeeded in solving it satisfactorily. They can defy the rigour of the Arctic winter, its extreme cold, its severest gales, and pursue their avocations in the open air even in the dreariness of the early winter twilight, so cleverly adapted is their garb to the conditions under which they live. Their boots, made of seal-skin, and lined with the downy skins of birds, are thoroughly waterproof; their gloves are large, but defend the hands from frost-bite: they wear two pair of breeches, made of reindeer or seal-skin, of which the under pair has the close, warm, stimulating hair close to the flesh; and two jackets, of which the upper one is provided with a large hood, completely enveloping the head and face, all but the eyes. The women are similarly attired, except that their outer jacket is a little longer, and the hood, in which they carry their children, considerably larger; and that, in summer, they substitute for the skin-jacket a water-tight shirt, or _kamleika_, made of the entrails of the seal or walrus. They sew their boots so tightly as to render them impervious to moisture, and so neatly that they may almost be included in the category of works of art. In Labrador the women carry their infants in their boots, which have a long pointed flap in front for the purpose. In a preceding chapter we have spoken incidentally of the Eskimo huts. These, like the Eskimo dress, are admirably adapted to the circumstances of the country and the nature of the climate. The materials used are either frozen snow, earth, stones, or drift-wood. The snow-hut is a dome-shaped edifice, constructed in the following manner:-- First, the builders trace a circle on the smooth level surface of the snow, and the snow gathered within the area thus defined is cut into slabs, and used for building the walls, leaving the ice underneath to serve as the flooring. The crevices between the slabs, and any accidental fissures, are closed up by throwing a few shovelfuls of loose snow over the building. Two men are generally engaged in the work; and when the dome is completed, the one within cuts a low door, through which he creeps. As the walls are not more than three or four inches thick, they admit a soft subdued light into the interior, but a window of transparent ice is generally added. Not only the hut, but the furniture inside it, is made of snow; snow seats, snow tables, snow couches--the latter rendered comfortable by coverings of skins. To exclude the cold outer air, the entrance is protected by an antechamber and a porch; and for the purposes of intercommunication, covered passages are carried from one hut to another.