04 Snow House

Chapter 04 Snow House The dogsled skimmed silently over the frozen tundra. The seal hunter ran alongside it. Sometimes he cracked his whip against the ice. The snowdrifts looked like giant white sculptures as the sun slipped behind the frozen hills. Then a full orange moon rose in the sky. The moonlight lit a small, rounded igloo in front of them. The dogs slowed, then stopped.

Jack stepped off the sled. Annie went to help unhitch the dogs. Jack took his book out and read about igloos: The word “ igloo” means “ house” in the language of native Arctic people. The house is built with blocks of snow. Dry snow is good wall material because it keeps in the heat. The temperature inside an igloo can be 65 degrees warmer than the temperature outside. Jack took out his notebook. He pulled off his mitten just long enough to write: igloo means house “ Come on, Jack! ” said Annie. She and the seal hunter were waiting for him in front of the igloo. The dogs were leashed together outside.

Jack hurried to join them. The hunter pushed aside animal skins covering the entrance. They stepped inside. A fat candle burned brightly. Shadows danced on walls of ice and snow. Jack and Annie sat on a fur-covered platform. They watched as the seal hunter moved about. First he lit a small stove. Then he slipped outside. He came back with a snowball and chunks of frozen meat. He put the snowball in a pot over the stove. Then he added the meat. “ What’s he making?” asked Annie. Jack pulled out his book and found a picture of the hunter cooking. He and Annie read the words silently:

There was a time when nearly all of the Arctic people’s food and clothing and tools came from Arctic animals, especially the seal. Nearly every part of the seal could be eaten. Lamps were fueled with seal fat. Clothing was made from sealskin. And knives and needles were carved from seal bones. “ He must be boiling seal meat, ” said Jack. “ The poor seals, ” said Annie. The seal hunter looked up. “ They are not poor, ” he said. “ They help us because they know we would die without them. ” “ Oh, ” said Annie. “ In return, we always thank the animal spirits, ” said the seal hunter.

“ How do you do that?” said Jack. “ We have many special ceremonies, ” said the seal hunter. He reached under the fur-covered platform and took out two wooden masks. “ Soon there will be a ceremony to honor the spirit of the polar bear, ” he said. “ I carved these masks for the ceremony. ” “ Polar bears?” said Annie.

“ Yes, ” said the hunter. “ Just as the seal has given us many gifts, so has the polar bear. ” “ Like what?” said Jack. “ Long ago the polar bear taught us how to live in the ice and snow, ” said the seal hunter. “ Taught you?” said Jack. “ I mean, can you give us some facts?” The seal hunter smiled. “ Yes, ” he said. “ A polar bear catches a seal when the seal comes up to breathe through a hole in the ice. The oldest seal hunters watched the polar bear and learned. This is how my father taught me to hunt seal, as his father taught him. ” “ That’s a good fact, ” said Jack.