I and a friend proceeded like this
till the ice-walls were about four feet high, spaces being left
for the door and windows. As the blocks became too heavy to lift,
we used great wads of snow in their stead, melting them with cold
water and kneading them into shape with thick woollen gloves, and
so the walls rose. I wanted a snow roof; had we been mediaeval
cathedral builders we might possibly have fashioned a groined and
vaulted snow roof, with ice ribs, but being amateurs, our roof
perpetually collapsed, so we finally roofed the hut with grooved-
and-tongued boards, cutting a hole through them for the chimney.
We then built a brick fire-place, with mantelpiece complete,
ending in an iron chimney. The windows were our great triumph. I
filled large japanned tea-trays two inches deep with water and
left them out to freeze. Then we placed the trays in a hot bath
and floated the sheets of ice off. They broke time and time again,
but after about the twentieth try we succeeded in producing two
great sheets of transparent ice which were fitted into the window-
spaces, and firmly cemented in place with wet snow.
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