The winds are so terribly strong in parts of Greenland that a tenthas to be anchored down by heavy stones to keep it from blowing away. In thewintertime, however, the Eskimo makes his hut of blocks of stone—if he can findany; but if he can’t, he cuts blocks of snow and makes a bowl-shaped house ofthat instead. Of course, his house is hardly large enough to stand up in andhas only one room and no windows, so that he has to light it inside with a firebuilt right on the ground, or by a lamp made out of a hollowed stone with awick soaked in the grease or fat of the animals he has killed.

The only tame animals the Eskimo has are the Eskimo dogs, which lookvery much like wolves and may be cousins of the wolves. The Eskimo uses dogshooked up to his sled, instead of a horse and carriage or automobile. Four oreight or more dogs are harnessed together and make a team. Almost all of ourdogs love water; they will run and jump into a pool or into a river if givenhalf a chance. But the Eskimo dog is afraid of water, and though he can swim hewill not go into it unless he is whipped into it, and not even then if he canrun away. The Eskimo, however, is not afraid of the water even when blocks ofice are floating in it. He has a canoe called a kayak which is completelycovered, all except a place in the center where he sits and paddles. It iswater tight, so that even when upset no water can get in. The Eskimos areexperts at paddling, and they have water sports in which an Eskimo upsets his kayakon purpose and rolls over and over in the water just to show off.