w to Make an Eskimo Snow House [5]
By GEORGE E. WALSH

Playing in the snow can be raised to a fine art if boys and girls
will build their creations with some attempt at architectural
skill and not content themselves with mere rough work. Working in
snow and ice opens a wide field for an expression of taste and
invention, but the construction of houses and forts out of this
plastic material provides the greatest amount of pleasure to the
normally healthy boy or girl.

The snow house of the Eskimo is probably the unhealthiest of
buildings made by any savage to live in, but it makes an excellent
playhouse in winter, and represents at the same time a most
ingenious employment of the arch system in building. The Eskimos
build their snow houses without the aid of any scaffolding or
interior false work, and while there is a keystone at the top of
the dome, it is not essential to the support of the walls. These
are self-supporting from the time the first snow blocks are put
down until the last course is laid.

The snow house is of the beehive shape and the ground plan is that
of a circle. The circle is first laid out on the ground and a
space cleared for it. Then a row of snow blocks is laid on the
ground and another course of similar blocks placed on top. The
snow blocks are not exactly square in shape, but about 12 in.
long, 6 in. high and 4 or 5 in. thick. Larger or smaller blocks
can be used, according to size of the house and thickness of the
walls.

First, the snow blocks must be packed and pressed firmly into
position out of moist snow that will pack. A very light, dry snow
will not pack easily, and it may be necessary to use a little
water. If the snow is of the right consistency, there will be no
trouble in packing and working with it. As most of the blocks are
to be of the same size throughout, it will pay to make a mold for
them by forming a box of old boards nailed together, minus the
top, and with a movable bottom, or rather no bottom at all. Place
the four sided box on a flat board and ram snow in it, forcing it
down closely. Then by lifting the box up and tapping the box from
above, the block will drop out. In this way blocks of uniform size
are formed, which makes the building simpler and easier.

While one boy makes the blocks another can shave them off at the
edges and two others can build the house, one inside of the circle
and the other outside. The Eskimos build their snow houses in this
way, and t