The builder selects snow of the proper consistency by sounding a drift
with a cane, made for the purpose, of reindeer horn, straightened by
steaming, and worked down until about half an inch in diameter, with a
ferule of walrus tusk or the tooth of a 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 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 by first cutting down at the ends of the pit, and then the
bottom afterward, cutting 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 a few thrusts of his knife in just the right
places, split off 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 three pieces, utterly unfit for the use of
the builder. When two men are building an igloo, one cuts the blocks
and the other erects the walls. When sufficient blocks have been cut
out to commence work with, the builder marks with his eye, or perhaps
draws a line with his knife describing the circumference of the
building, usually a circle about ten or twelve feet in diameter.
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