Page:The white czar; a story of a polar bear (IA whiteczarstoryof00hawk).pdf/32

 The frames of these strange houses were made of drift wood or trunks of small trees, filled in with sod and dirt. The whole was finally covered with a thick layer of sods. The front door of the igloo was a very strange one, consisting of an underground tunnel perhaps fifty feet in length. This is to keep out the wind and the cold. The dogs sleep in the tunnel during very cold nights so it is usually rather filthy, but that does not trouble an Eskimo. Dirt and vermin are his usual daily companions. The chief thing with him is to keep warm.

There was much excitement on this dark cold winter morning in Eskimo town. Men might be seen running about from igloo to igloo. Occasionally they stopped and pointed to the north and cried, "Omingmong," excitedly. This is the Eskimo name for the musk ox. A musk ox hunting party was to set out that morning and many of the men and women were going to see them off.

In the igloo of Eiseeyou there was much excitement. But excitement probably ran higher in other igloos, for Eiseeyou's family was a small one and he was a young man.