Morning journal and courier., 1880-11-22
ESquimauX Houses.
SHOW yArchiteeture-Expert Snow Manip-
 uIatOrs.

uIatOrs.
 [Jchn Rae in New York Herald
 As probnbly many people know, an igloo is ] usually made of snow, The word however 1 means house, and as their houses consist of a single room it also means room. Sometimes at points that are regularly occupied through l the winter months igloos built of stones and moss piled up around and over them, so that when covered by winter snows they make very comfortable dwellings. This is the case at Igloolik which means the place of igloos, and also near Toloch point, on King Williams land, where the ruins of these underground houses are quite numerous. They had been built many years ago by the Ookjooliks, when they occupied the land be- fore the Netchillik invasion. A long low pas sage way leads into each dwelling, so con- structed as to exclude the wind from the in terior, though ventilation is permitted by leaving open the door. This, by the way, is an Inuit custom. Even in the coldest wealth CT the door is open except when the occu- pants are asleep, and they are only closed then to keep the dogs from making raid on the igloo. If the door faces the wind shel- ter is erected outside to cut off the wind so that the door need not be closed. The cold est day ever saw, when the thermometer was T degrees below zero, the door of our igloos was open all hesstime we were not asleep. snow igloo is made of snow-blocks about three feet by eighteen inches wide and i've or SIX inches thick.
 The snow knife is simply large thin-blad- ed knife, like cheese knife of the grocery stores with a handle made large enough to be conveniently grasped with both hands. Before iron and knives became so plentiful as at present. snow knives were made of bone and reindeer or nusk-ox horn, but such knives quite rare now. The Netchillik, Ookjoolik and Ooquesiksillik tribes are quite deficient in iron weapons and implements and many of their knives are marvels of in genuity. l saw several made of a little tip of iron, perhaps an inch square, mounted on handle two feet long, and so shaped that the iron would do much of the cutting and scratching, the handle simply acting as wedge to assist the operation. I also saw man making knife by cutting thick piece of iron with a cold chisel, afterward to be pounded out flat between two stones. The entire operation would probably take about three or four weeks with the poor tools at their disposal.
 The builder selects snow of the proper consistency by sounding drift with cane, made for the purpose, of reindeer horn, straightened by steaming and worked down until about balf an inch in diameter, with ferule of walrus tusk or the tooth of bear on the bottom. By thrusting this into the snow he can tell whether the layers deposited by successive winds are separated by bands of soft snow, which would cause the blocks to break When the snow is selected he digs a pit to the depth of IS inches or two feet and about the length of the snow block. He then steps down into the pit and proceeds to cut the blocks by first cutting down the ends of the pit and then the bottom afterward cut ting a little channel about an inch or two deep, marking the thickness of the proposed block.
 Now comes the part that requires practice to accomplish successfully. The expert will with few thrusts of his knife in just the 4 | it carefully out to await removal to it's posi- tion on the wall. The tyro will amost inevit- ably break il into two or three pieces utterly unfit for the of the builder. When two men are building an igloo one cuts the blocks and the other erects the walls. When suffici- ent blocks have been cut out to commence work with the builder marks with his eye or perhaps draws line with his knife describ- ing the circumference of the building, usual ly a circle about 10 or 12 feet in diameter. The first row of blocks is then arranged, the blocks placed so as to incline inward and resting on each other at the ends, thus afford ing mutual support. When this row is con- pleted the builder cuts away the first and second blocks, slanting them from the ground upward, so the second tier resting upon the edges of the first row can be continued on and around spirally, and by gradually in creasing the inward slant perfect dome is constructed of such strength that the builder can lie flat upon the outside while chinking the interstices between the blocks The chinking is, however, usually done by the women and children as the building progress es, and additional protection secured from the winds in very cold weather by banking up with large wooden snow shovel the snow at the base often being piled to the depth of three or four feet This makes the igloo perfectly impervious to the wind in the most tempestuous weather. When the house is completed the builders are walled in. Then small hole about two feet is cut, and the wall on the side away from the entrance is to be located and is used to pass in the lamps and bedding. It is then walled up and the regular door cut about two feet high and niched at the top. It would bring bad luck to carry the bedding ineo the iglooo by the same door it would be taken out Before the door is opened the bed is constructed of snow-blocks, and made from one to three fourths of the entire space The higher the bed and the lower the door the warmer the igloo will be.