Other slices are cut on the same principle for the
succeeding rows; but when the domed roof has to be made, the snow-bricks
must be cut with the necessary double curvature. A conical plug fills up
the centre of the dome. Loose snow is next heaped over the house, to fill
up crevices. Lastly a doorway is cut out with knives; also a window,
which is glazed with a sheet of the purest ice at hand. For inside
accommodation there should be a pillar or two of snow to support the
lamps.
Snow Walls with Tenting for their Roofs.--Sir L. McClintock says:--"We
travelled each day until dusk, and then were occupied for a couple of
hours in building our snow-hut. The four walls were run up until 5 1/2
feet high, inclining inwards as much as possible, over these our tent was
laid to form a roof. We could not afford the time necessary to construct
a dome of snow. Our equipment consisted of a very small brown-holland
tent, macintosh floor-cloth and felt robes; besides this, each man had a
bag of double blanketing, and a pair of fur boots, to sleep in. We wore
mocassins over the pieces of blanketing in which our feet were wrapped
up, and, with the exception of a change of this foot-gear, carried no
spare clothes.
"When we halted for the night, Thompson and I usually sawed out the
blocks of compact snow, and carried them to Petersen, who acted as the
master-mason in building the hut.
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