% JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



divided with a broad knife, having a long 

 handle, into slabs three feet long, six inches 

 thick, and two feet deep, being the thick- 

 ness of the layer of snow. These slabs 

 were tenacious enough to admit of being 

 moved about without breaking, or even 

 losing the sharpness of their angles, and 

 they had a slight degree of curvature, cor- 

 responding with that of the circle from 

 which they were cut. They were piled 

 upon each other exactly like courses of 

 hewn stone around the circle which was 

 traced out, and care was taken to smooth 

 the beds of the different courses with the 

 knife, and to cut them so as to give the wall 

 a slight inclination inwards, by which con- 

 trivance the building acquired the properties 

 of a dome. The dome was closed some- 

 what suddenly and flatly by cutting the 

 upper slabs in a wedge-form, instead of the 

 more rectangular shape of those below. 

 The roof was about eight feet high, and the 

 last aperture was shut up by a small conical 

 piece. The whole was built from within, 

 and each slab was cut so that it retained its 



