The
first row of blocks is then arranged, the blocks placed so as to
incline inward and resting against each other at the ends, thus
affording mutual support. When this row is completed the builder cuts
away the first and second blocks, slanting them from the ground upward,
so that the second tier resting upon the edges of the first row can be
continued on and around spirally, and by gradually increasing the
inward slant a perfect dome is constructed of such strength that the
builder can lie flat on the outside while chinking the interstices
between the blocks. The chinking is, however, usually done by the women
and children as the building progresses, and additional protection
secured from the winds in very cold weather by banking up a 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 a small hole about two feet square is cut
in the wall, on the side away from where 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 nitched at the top. It
would bring bad luck to carry the bedding into the igloo by the same
door it would be taken out.
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