He had no taste for star-spangled bed-curtains, when solid walls, whiter than the purest dimity, were to be had for nothing.

His first operation in the erection of this hut was to mark out a circle of about seven feet diameter.

From the inside of this circle the snow was cut by means of a long knife in the form of slabs nearly a foot thick, and from two to three feet long, having a slight convexity on the outside.

These slabs were then so cut and arranged that, when they were piled upon each other round the margin of the circle, they formed a dome-shaped structure like a bee-hive, which was six feet high inside, and remarkably solid.

The slabs were cemented together with loose snow, and every accidental chink or crevice filled up with the same material.