VII.

Housing, Transportation, and Clothing

Inuit homes are of two kinds: walrus or sealskin tents for summer and huts or houses for winter. Winter houses are usually made of stone, with a driftwood or whalebone frame, chinked and covered with moss or sod. The entrance is a long, narrow passage just high enough to admit a person crawling on hands and knees. During long journeys some Canadian Inuit build igloos, winter houses of snow blocks piled in a dome shape (the term igloo comes from the Inuit iglu, meaning 'house'). Such snow houses, rare in Greenland and unknown in Alaska, were once permanent winter houses of the Inuit of central and eastern Canada. In the 20th century many Inuit moved into towns to live in government-built, Western housing.

The principal traditional means of conveyance are the kayak, the umiak, and the dogsled. The light, seaworthy kayak is a canoelike hunting boat made of a wood frame completely covered with sealskin except for a round center opening, where the single occupant sits. In Greenland and Alaska the skin around the hole can be laced tightly around the occupant, making the kayak virtually watertight. The umiak, a larger, open boat about 9 m (about 30 ft) long and 2.4 m (8 ft) wide, and made of a wooden frame covered with walrus skins, is used for whaling expeditions and, sometimes, to transport families and goods. The sled, drawn by a team of native dogs admirably adapted for the purpose, is common among all Inuit except those in southern Greenland. When iron was obtained through trade, iron runners largely supplanted ivory and whalebone runners. In the last half-century motorboats and snowmobiles have become important modes of travel.

Traditional Inuit dress for both men and women consists of watertight boots, double-layer trousers, and the parka, a tight-fitting double-layer pullover jacket with a hood, all made of skins and furs. An enlarged hood forms a convenient cradle for nursing infants.