The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1880-11-12
.N rsorInArx sHoN norsE.
HOW TT Is BUILT-THE INTEBSAT. AR
RNNCENENTS.

RNNCEMENTS.
As proIglhlv many peopIe know. an ig-
loo is usually built of snow. The word.
however, means house. and as their
houses consists of a single room it also
means room. Sometimes ut points that
lre reouIarIv occupied during the Win
ter months fpInos are built of stone and
moss piIpd up around and over them, so
thai whom covered bv the winter SHOWS
they make very comfortable dwellings,.
This is the clss at Igio1ljk. vIiehmeans
the place of ieloos. aud also near Tul-
1o-L Point ON King NlfiFm'S Land.
,yher. me ruins Of th-se underground
houses were quite numerous They had
been built great many years ago by the
O1kioo.iks when they occupied the land
before the N-tcufl,ik invasion. s long
Low passage wav leads into each l"ell-
ing. So cons rI-.tI us TO exclude the
wind from tHs Interior though y.util-
alton is permitted Uy leaving auau the
door. Tn.s. by jhe way. is ana mutt Gus
tom. Even iu the coolest weather the
door is open except when the occupants
are asleep. and they are only closed then
to prevent the dogs from making raid
on the igIu. If the door faces the wind
n shelter is erected outside to cut off the
wind SO that the dOornepd not be closed.
Tbe coldest dav / ever saw. when the
Thermometer was Il degrees below zero.
the door of our igIoo was open all the
time we were not asleep. 4 snow igIoO
is made of snow blocks about three feet
long BY eighteen inches wide and five
inches thick.
The snow knife is simply a large thin
bladed knife like a cheese knife Of the
Grocery stores. with handle made large
enough 20 be conveniently gIasped with
both hands. Before iron and knives be-
came so plentiful as at present snow
knives were made of bone and reindeer
or musk-ox horn, but such knives are
quite rare now. The NetchiIik. O0k-
iOolik and ObqUesiksillik tribes are still
quite deficient in iron weapons and inn
plemeHts, and many Of their knives are
marvcis of ingenuity. | saw several
made of a little tip of iron, perhaps an
inch square, mounted ON a handle two
feet long. and so shaped that the iron
would do most of the cutting and scratch
scratching. and the handle ac tedmerely
as a wedge to assist the operation. [
also saw a man making knife by cut
ting a thick piece of iron with cold
chiscI. afterward to he pounded out illt
and ground down on stones. The en-
tire operation would probably take three
or four weeks with the poor tools at their
disposal.
The builder selects snow Of the proper
consistency by sounding a drift wi5h Il
cane made tor the purpose, of reindeer
horn, sJrGighLeLed by steaming, and
worked down until about half an inch
IN diameter, with Il ferule Of walrus
tusk or the tooth of a bear on the bot
tom. BY thUustiug this into the snow
he can tell whether the layers deposited
flv successive winds are separated bV
bands of soft snow which would cause
the blocks to break When the snow
is selected he digs a pit to the depth Of
eighteen inches or two feet and about
the length of the snow block. He then
steps down into the pit and proceeds to
cut out the blocks bv first cutting down
at the ends of the pit and then the bot
tom afteTWard cutting a little channel
about an inch or two deep. marking the
thickness of the DropOsed block
Now comes the part that requires
prectice to accomplish successfully.
The expert will, with few thrusts OF
his knife in just the right places, slit OF
the snow block and lift it carefully out
to await removal to its position on the
wall The tyro will almost inevitably
break the block into two or lhree piece.
utterly unfit for the use OF the builder.
When two men are building AN irl0 one
cuts the blocks and the other errcts the
walls When sufficient blocks have beer
cut 0us to commence work with tn,
builder marks with ms eve. OF FHT.I4ra
draws a line with ms knife. describing
the circumference OF the building. usu
ally circle about 10 or = feet in diam
eter. The first row of blocks is then ar
ranged. the blocks placed so as to incline
inward and r-stfugarainss each otleraI
the ends. thus af0rlinr mutual support
When this row is completed the builder
cuts away the first and second blocks
slantiug them from the ground upward
so that the second tier resting upon The
edges of the first row can be continued
on and around spiralIv. and bv gradually
increasing the inward slant a perfect
dome is constructed of such strengtl
that the builder can lie lat uD0u the
outside while chinking the interSticet
between the blocks. The chinkiug is
however, usually done by the women Az,
children as the building progresses. aug
additional protection secured from The
winds in very cold weather bv bguEfur
up with a large wooden snow shovel. ia,
snow mt the base often being pileG 10 The
depth of three OF four feet. Tlisma
theigloo perfectly imperyi0us TO the wine
in the most tcmDestu0us weather
When the house is completed tie build
ers are walled in. Then n small h0l,
about two feet square is cut in the wal
ont side away from where the cntranc,
is to be located, and is used to pass il
the lamps and bedding. 1t is then wall
ed up and the regular door cut about { vt
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