At the Winter Sea Ice Camp (4) - PREVIEW

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A bitter wind blows and the dogs huddle in the snow. In the igloo, the children scratch in the rime on the ice window. A man takes out his tool-pouch and drills the stone trough he is making, using bow and spindle. Children play with a pup; a man coils his whip and warms his hands at the lamp. A naked infant toddles by. A woman presses blubber in the lamp to free the oil, and a child carries the sharpening rock to the man who saws at his stonework. Outside, the boys stand on their heads and roll in drifting snow. A woman has a speck of rock in her eye and the carver removes it by opening wide the eye and applying his lips. The men gamble at the spear-the-peg game. The women try another spear-the-peg game. Some men are still at the seal hunt, beards rimed by the cold. Day ends with a drum performance to which the women sing. The next day the big igloo is deserted and the people are again trekking over the broad expanse of the sea ice.