The Washington herald., 1908-06-28
TENTING IN THE ARCTIC.
How Comforts Can BE Obtained in
Coolest weather.


From Harper's Magazine
The experience OF those who tent IN the
arctic during the colder winter months
is to be summarized about as follows:
Wnen the tent has been pitched the
I temperature within II Is some fifteen or
twenty degrees higher than outside. or 60
degrees il it is 50 degrees in the open:
one is damp and warm from the strenu-
Gus exercise Of the day. but soon becomes
cold and shivers; one crawls into his
sleeping bag and makes entries IN the
diary clumsily with ones mlttens on;
tho heat from ones body forms hoar
frost on everything in the tent, and con-
geals in tho sleeping bag so that it be-
comes stiff and heavy with ice during the
days travel when IL freezes and soak
ing wet when one gets into il at night
and thaws it out, this in turn vets ones
clothing, and the trusers and coat freeze
stih as sole leather when one breaks
camp in the morning; the twenty-four
hours are a round Of wretchedness. and
the ice-crusted tent and icy sleeping bags
become a heavy load for the sled.
When one follows Eskimo methods the
conditions are markedly different. on
any treeless open Unless il be perhaps
during the first month OF wlnter) an area
OF compactly drifted snow is easily
found the snow-knives (of bone or iron.
according to circumstances) are brought
out and the surface Of the drift is divld-
ed into blocks OF domino shape. say IA
by 30 inches and ( inches thick: these
are then placed on edge and end 10 end
in circle the size OF the desired ground
area Of the dOme-shaped hut: then on
the principles OF architecture that apply
10 domes. whether made OF stone or
snow. the beehive house is completed.
Two men can In an hour build "A house
large enough for eight 20 sleep In When
the house is completed a doorway is cut
In its side near the ground skins are
spread over the floor one brushes him
self as clear Of snow as possible. and
crawls inside. The of lamps are then
lit, and the house IS soon brought to a
temperature considerably above the freez-
ing point; for snow is one Of the best
known nonconductors Of heat. and the
intense cold OF the outside penetrates
the walls only 70 a very slight degree
But when the house gets warm the in
2
thaw, and the water formed is sucked
up into the snow blotter fashion. when
this water penetrates far enough into
the snow 10 meet the cold from the out
side il freezes and your snow house IS
turned into an ice dome so strong that n
polar bear can crawl over IL without
danger OF breaking through
When once inside the house the Esxi-
mos strip naked 20 the waist and hang
their clothes 10 dry on pegs i'm the wall
on some journeys we had sheet-lron
stoves procured from whalers IN former
years., which we installed in the snow
houses. and in which we built roaring
fires.
one Is well placed to take comfort IN
the ingenuity OF man overcoming a harsh
environment when, sitting snug, warm,
and lightly clad. one listens 20 an Grctic
blizzard whining helplessly over the Ice
vault that two hours before was an oval
snowbank. I longed for a dressing gown
and slippers. but one cannot burden his
sled with such luxuTies. There was no
cold 70 make the hands numb I'm writ
ing the diary. no frost 90 CONCEAL on the
bed clothing. and make IL wet. none OF
the nights discomforts and the morrow's
forebodings that have been the stock IN
trade OF the makers Of arctic books And
when we broke camp In the morning we
did not burden the sled with an ice-stlf-
fened hundred-pound tent but stuck I'm
our belt the ten-ounce snow knife. our
potential roof for the coming night.