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with an exuberance of life equaled only by the shortness of its duration. And, in token of a just appreciation of the Creator's goodness, this animated medley-man, and beasts, and birds, and fishes-rises up, divides, falls to, and ends in eating or in being eaten!

LESSON XX.

THE ESKIMOS AND THEIR FROZEN LAND.

PART SECOND.

Strat'a gem, a plan or scheme | Im'pro viṣed', brought about

for deceiving an enemy.

on a sudden, offhand, or without previous preparation.

Blub'ber, the fat of whales and Věr ́i ta-ble, real; true.

other large sea animals.

Bru'in, a bear; so called from
his color, the term bruin sig-
nifying brown.
Hǎv'o¤, general destruction.
İg'no mìn'i oŭs, shameful;

contemptible.

U nique', unmatched; without a
like or equal.
Är'ehi teet'ure, the art or sci-
ence of building.

Con geals', grows hard and stiff

from cold; becomes ice. Trans lu'çent, sufficiently clear

to permit the passage of light. Con tig'u oùs ly, in a manner so as to touch, or be close together.

Phid'i as, a Greek sculptor.
In îm'i ta ble, superior; not
capable of being imitated or
copied.

T

10 overcome the Polar bear, the Eskimos have two stratagems. One is by imitating the seal, upon which the bear principally feeds, and thereby enticing it within gunshot. Another is by bending a piece of stiff whalebone, incasing it in a ball of blubber, and freezing the ball, which then holds firmly the bent whalebone.

2. Armed with these frozen blubber balls, the Eskimos approach their victim, and, with a discharge of arrows, commence the engagement. The bear, smarting with pain, turns upon his tormentors, who, taking to their heels, drop now and then a blubber ball.

3. Bruin, as fond of food as of revenge, pauses for a moment, hastily swallows one, then another, and another. Soon a strange sensation is felt within. The thawing blubber, melted by the heat of the animal's stomach, releases the pent-up whalebone, which, springing violently into place, plays havoc with the intestines, and brings the bear to a painful and ignominious end.

4. But more wonderful still, among the many strange things connected with the life of this people, is the unique system of architecture improvised by them during their seal-hunting expeditions on the ice, when they occupy a veritable crystal palace fit for an arctic fairy. On the frozen river or sea, a spot is chosen free from irregularities, and a circle of ten or fifteen feet in diameter is drawn on the snow.

5. The snow within the circle is then cut into slabs of from three to four inches in thickness, the length being the depth of the snow, and these slabs are formed into a wall inclosing the circle, and carried up in courses similar to those of brick or stone, terminating in a dome-shaped roof.

6. A wedge-like slab keys the arch; and this principle in architecture may have first been known to the Assyrians, Egyptians, Chinese or Eskimos. Loose

snow is then thrown into the crevices, which quickly congeals; an aperture is cut in the side for a door, and if the thin wall is not sufficiently translucent, a piece of ice is fitted in for a window.

7. Seats, tables, and even sleeping-places, are made

with frozen snow, and covered with reindeer or scal skin. Outhouses connect with the main room, and frequently a number of dwellings are built contiguously, with a passage from one to another.

8. These houses are comfortable and durable, resisting alike the wind and the thaw until late in the season. Care must be taken that the walls are not so thick as to make them too warm, and so cause a dripping from the interior. A square block of snow serves as a stand for the stone lamp, which is their only fire.

9. "The purity of the material," said Sir John Franklin, who saw them build an edifice of this kind at Coppermine River, "of which the house was framed, the elegance of its construction, and the translucency of its walls, which transmitted a very pleasant light, gave it an appearance far superior to a marble building, and one might survey it with feelings somewhat akin to those produced by the contemplation of a Grecian temple reared by Phidias; both are triumphs of art, inimitable in their kind."

HUBERT H. BANCROFT.

LESSON XXI.

THE FIGHT OF PASO DEL MAR.

Shăl'lop, a sort of large boat | Head'land, a point of land pro

with two masts.

Hov'er ing, hanging fluttering in the air, or upon the wing; hanging upon or about. Mist'ed, covered with mist. Seŭd, to drive along swiftly, as clouds or sea-spray are driven by the wind.

jecting from the shore into the

sea.

De vour'ing, destroying; con

suming.

Bran'dished, waved, as a weap

on.

Pes'ca dor, fisherman.
De spīte', in spite of.

G

USTY and raw was the morning,
A fog hung over the seas,
And its gray skirts, rolling inland,
Were torn by the mountain trees;
No sound was heard but the dashing
Of waves on the sandy bar,
When Pablo of San Diego

Rode down to the Paso del Mar.

2. The pescador, out in his shallop,
Gathering his harvest so wide,
Sees the dim bulk of the headland
Loom over the waste of the tide ;
He sees, like a white thread, the pathway
Wind round on the terrible wall,
Where the faint, moving speck of the rider
Seems hovering close to its fall!

3. Stout Pablo of San Diego

Rode down from the hills behind;
With the bells on his gray mule tinkling,
He sang through the fog and wind.
Under his thick, misted eyebrows,
Twinkled his eye like a star,
And fiercer he sang, as the sea-winds
Drove cold on Paso del Mar.

4. Now Bernal, the herdsman of Corral,
Had traveled the shore since dawn,
Leaving the ranches behind him—

Good reason he had to be gone!
The blood was still red on his dagger,
The fury was hot in his brain,

And the chill, driving scud of the breakers
Beat thick on his forehead in vain.

5. With his blanket wrapped gloomily round him, He mounted the dizzying road,

And the chasms and steeps of the headland
Were slippery and wet, as he trode ;
Wild swept the wind of the ocean,
Rolling the fog from afar,

When near him a mule-bell came tinkling,
Midway on the Paso del Mar !

6. "Back!" shouted Bernal full fiercely,
And "Back!" shouted Pablo, in wrath,
As his mule halted, startled and shrinking,
On the perilous line of the path!
The roar of devouring surges

Came up from the breakers' hoarse war ; And "Back, or you perish!" cried Bernal, "I turn not on Paso del Mar !"

7. The gray mule stood firm as the headland. He clutched at the jingling rein,

When Pablo rose up in his saddle,

And smote till he dropped it again.
A wild oath of passion swore Bernal,
And brandished his dagger, still red,
While fiercely stout Pablo leaned forward,
And fought o'er his trusty mule's head.

8. They fought, till the black wall below them
Shone red through the misty blast;

Stout Pablo then struck, leaning further,
The broad breast of Bernal at last.
Then, phrensied with pain, the swart herdsman
Closed round him his terrible grasp,

And jerked him, despite of his struggles,
Down from the mule, in his clasp.

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