Chapter 34 Chapter 33 Giant Snowflake

Large flakes of snow fell down. These snowflakes were all composed of small ice flowers, and each small ice flower had six petals. The snowflakes were as big as leaves at first, and then the snowflakes in the sky rolled and fell like white paper. After a while, giant snowflakes as big as flying carpets covered the birds in the air and fell to the ground together. Cover a house. Giant snowflakes are formed when three strands of warm and cold air meet, a stream of cold air close to the Earth's surface and a stream of intensely cold air high above, with a layer of warmer air in between.The strong cold air in the upper layer will form a blizzard. When the snowflakes fall to the middle warm layer, they quickly cool down to below the freezing point, but they still remain in a crystallized state. The warm air flow slows down the falling speed of the snowflakes, and they gather in the air. Or thousands of snow crystals gather together to form giant snowflakes, and when passing through the lower layer of cold air, all the snow crystals bloom together to form giant snowflakes.

Since the 19th century, people have claimed to have seen huge snowflakes falling from the sky from time to time. There are scientific reports that there are giant snowflakes the size of a plate. According to the "Guinness Book of World Records", the largest snowflake ever recorded has a diameter of 15 inches, which is 38 centimeters . Everyone raised their heads, and giant snowflakes as big as a flying carpet formed an endless white net in the air and fell down overwhelmingly. After the snow stopped, the house had been buried deep in the snow, they drilled out of the ground like moles, and the wonderful sight before them was unbelievable.There are diamond-shaped crystals everywhere, star-shaped snowflakes and columnar snow crystals are layered and extruded, and branch-shaped snow crystals and needle-shaped snow crystals are criss-crossed. They walk in the gaps of giant snowflakes, just like being in a pure and pure fairy tale world .

Dora said, "It's so beautiful, is this in a dream?" Linfeng said: "You can pinch my arm." "We have to move before the snow freezes," said the village chief. Moving means moving from under the snow to above the snow. Everyone built an ice and snow castle. Although this is only a temporary residence, it is still beautiful and practical. Everyone has their own room. The road can only be started after the snow is frozen solid. Hawthorne and the others can only wait patiently.Winter is the hardest time for the Eskimos to have the fewest sources of food. Sometimes in famine, the whole family and even the whole village will starve to death.In the big family of nations in the world, the Eskimos are undoubtedly the strongest, most tenacious, bravest and most indomitable nation. They are also the most hospitable nation. They would rather go hungry than let their guests be left out.After a few days, the stored food was running low.

The warden said: "Next, we should eat our own legs." Nanook said, "Let's go hunting!" They took their weapons and led the husky dogs to the depths of the ice valley, where the ice is very thin and close to the sea.There was a large group of white fluff moving slowly on the ground. Iga shot one with an Eskimo bow and arrow. This is an Angora snow rabbit unique to the North Pole. Except for a small part of the face, their whole body is covered with bushy Silky white long hairs. Linfeng and Dora found a hole in the snow field. Linfeng bent over and walked over, knelt on the ground and crawled to the hole little by little. He used a long knife to expand the hole, and carefully put his hand into the hole.Dora said: "Be careful." Linfeng yelled, something in the hole bit his hand.Dora was startled, Linfeng leaned his upper body into the hole, and pulled out a white fox from inside.

Nanook and the Eskimo men sat on the ground and chewed their boots with their teeth. In the cold winter, the boots made of seal skin became as stiff as pig iron. They used their teeth to soften the boots so that they could walk in the ice and snow. They smashed the thin ice, and Nanook leaped over the floe, lying on the ground, pointing the harpoon at the surface with one hand, and pulling the moss-covered fishing line with the other hand. Sometimes he caught a big cod with a stab, and Nanook happily held it up for everyone to see, and then he killed the big fish with his teeth, so that the fish would not jump into the sea.

The Eskimo method of catching wolves has been passed down from generation to generation, and it is very special and effective.They apply a layer of fresh animal blood on the sharp blade, wait until the blood freezes, and then apply another layer, and so on, and soon, the blade freezes into a lump of blood.The next step is to insert the sharp knife covered in blood upside down on the ground, with the handle of the knife inserted into the ground and the tip of the knife pointing up.The wolves could smell the smell of blood from far away, and they ran over to lick the fresh frozen blood on the knife excitedly. The licking became harder until all the blood was licked clean and the sharp blade was exposed, but the wolves were already bloodthirsty at this time. They licked the blade fiercely, and did not feel the pain of the tongue being cut by the blade. The knife swallowed greedily.They have no idea that what they are licking is actually their own blood. The faster their tongues twitch, the more blood will flow until they fall to the ground and die.

An Eskimo child discovered the seal's breathing hole and shouted excitedly. Seals are mammals. Although they live in the sea, they breathe through their lungs. Therefore, they must constantly float to the surface of the sea to breathe air, and then dive into the water.Seals can stay underwater for 7 to 9 minutes every time they take a breath, and they can stay in the water for about 20 minutes at most.If this time is exceeded, they will suffocate and die.Because the sea in the Arctic freezes in winter, the seals cannot find a place to breathe under the ice, so they dig a hole in the ice from the bottom up as a breathing hole.

The Eskimos hunted seals by looking for their breathing holes. Everyone ran over with barbed spears. Nanook found a large number of breathing holes around him, and arranged a person next to each breathing hole. In this way, If a seal is scared away at one breathing hole, it is bound to go to another breathing hole to take a breath.The warden was the first to capture a seal, and then the King of Pain and General Roger also stabbed the seal with a pickaxe, and everyone helped to drag the seal out and load it on a sled. On the way back, Hawthorne found a string of suspicious footprints on the snow, which looked larger than human footprints. Both Nanook and the experienced Eskimos identified them, and they were not polar bear footprints either.

In the foothills of the Himalayas, it is said that there is a kind of "snowman", and the story of "Bigfoot" is also circulating in North America. It is said that many people in the Shennongjia area of ​​China have witnessed the appearance of "savages".Hawthorne suspected that the footprints on the ground were left by this rare animal. Everyone followed the footprints and walked up a glacier basin. Animals roared from inside. They hid behind a snow slope and saw a group of walruses gathered in the glacier basin. . Walruses live in groups. They dive to the bottom of the sea together to prey on sea clams, excrete together on the ice, and even fart together.Walruses have a pair of white tusks and are particularly ferocious, sometimes catching seals for food.

Nanook picked up the buoy and was about to hunt walruses, but Hawthorne stopped him, and everyone listened attentively. Behind a snowdrift, there seemed to be something moving. It sounded like a big head, and then there was the sound of the ground shaking.Everyone was surprised to see a white giant standing upright, shaking his head and walking towards the walrus group. Dora whispered, "What is this? It looks like a human from the back." Hawthorne said, "Shhh, Great Ape!" There is a giant white ape that is about to become extinct living in the Arctic region. It is an omnivorous animal and the largest ape in the world. The male white ape is more than 2 meters tall, 1 meter wide at the shoulder, and weighs about 200 kilograms. , walking in a semi-upright posture with the forelimbs as a support, and can also walk upright, looking like a giant.

The arctic giant ape is standing at the entrance of the glacier basin, and it seems that it has the ability to judge geographical advantages.A guard walrus blew like a bull, and the walrus herd stirred up, ready to flee, but there was solid ice all around, and the arctic giant ape was guarding the entrance of the basin, and there was nowhere to escape. At this time, something unexpected happened. A polar bear suddenly slipped from the glacier to the basin, slapped a walrus to death, and then attacked another one.The arctic great ape roared and slapped its chest with both hands, looking very fierce. It was angry at the unexpected visitor, but the polar bear ignored it and seized the time to hunt the walrus. The walruses did not let them be slaughtered. They fought back with their long teeth and attacked them in groups. However, they were no match for the polar bears at all.With a wild cry, the giant ape rushed into the group of walruses, stretched out his palm and grabbed the polar bear's back forcefully. The polar bear was enraged, and turned around and rushed towards the giant ape. In the glacier basin, the three animals fought together. Dora said: "Grandpa, who is the strongest, the arctic giant ape or the polar bear?" Hawthorne asked, "Who is the most powerful tiger or lion?" "I hope the white gorilla beats the polar bear," Dora said. Linfeng said: "I bet, the polar bear will win." The walrus herd dispersed, leaving only the arctic great ape and the polar bear in the clearing. Both animals were about the same height and weight, and they fought evenly.In terms of strength, a polar bear can shoot a reindeer to death with a single palm, and popular science programs also filmed that gorillas can push down cars. It can be seen that the arctic great ape is also very strong, but compared with polar bears, the arctic great ape is stronger in terms of strength slightly inferior. The two huge beasts bit and slapped each other, each palm was powerful and heavy, and the people who watched were thrilled.Soon, the giant ape was defeated. It crawled on all fours and ran in another direction. The polar bear gave up after chasing it for more than ten meters. The giant ape turned back and started to use harassing guerrilla tactics.Polar bears have powerful explosive power, but they cannot last for a long time. After a long time, their movements will become clumsy.In terms of speed and agility, the arctic great ape has an advantage.Both beasts were scarred, and the polar bear was so annoyed that it chased the arctic great ape with all its might. The arctic great ape dodges around a large ice block, and the polar bear is panting from exhaustion.The giant ape saw the right moment, lifted a big ice cube and smashed it hard at the polar bear. This time, it turned defeat into victory and hit the tip of the polar bear's nose... The crowd couldn't help cheering loudly. Hearing the sound, the arctic giant ape turned his head to look, ignored the polar bear's body, and swaggered away dragging a walrus. Back in the village, everyone was still full of ideas, and told the village chief about the great arctic great ape fighting the polar bear.The Eskimos are a nation that loves to tell stories. Although there are no historical documents left behind, they have ancient legends passed down from generation to generation.During the long winter, storytelling and listening to stories often became their main form of entertainment. The village chief said: "Let me tell you a story too. This story has been passed down from generation to generation by our Inuit people. A long time ago, an iceberg fell from the sky. When the end of the world came, someone would set foot on the road to find it. There is a magical power in this iceberg..." Hawthorne glanced at the warden. The story of the village chief further confirmed the mysterious legend recorded on the crystal scroll. The warden couldn't wait to ask: "What magical power is contained in the iceberg?"