[DRUMMOND] THE CANADIAN SNOWSHOE 309 
The Arctic Belt takes in the Arctic coast and islands, and also 
parts of the Alaskan and Atlantic coasts. It is more or less woodless 
except for willow and alder in the river valleys. The snow is drifted 
and hard. 
The snowshoe is used in the State of New York and in other parts 
of The States bordering upon the Canadian line, but, as no distinct 
types can be found and as the snow is not very permanent, it is assumed 
and reasonably so, that it is an intrusion at these points from The 
Canadian Algonkian Indians. 
In separating the snowshoe into its types various considerations 
are to be taken into account, such as snow conditions, available 
material, frame, number of cross-bars, outline and shear, and webbing 
and size. 
The snowshoe may be flat or turned up, it may be pointed at 
both ends, round, oval, lenticular, of the beaver-tail type, or as in 
common cases, have the ordinary trailer. The frame may be of one 
or two pieces, rectangular, round or oval in cross-section, and with 
‘or without a wedge-shaped keel on the inside. When hardwood is 
available for the frame it allows of more elaborate shaping, and 
neater forms are the result. There may be from none to two or 
more cross-bars, but if there are more than two their main use is as 
spreaders. The usual arrangement is two cross-bars, and this divides 
the snowshoe into three spacings namely toe, foot and heel. 
There are three kinds of mesh namely hexagonal, rectangular 
and irregular, and the toe and heel netting is usually made of finer 
material. In certain types the toe and heel netting is absent, as will 
be seen later on. 
There are four methods of attachment of the netting to the 
frame (1) by a string passing along the inside of the frame in a series 
of loops one to two inches long. The holes through the frame where 
the loops join are V-shaped, about 3 inch apart on the inside and com- 
ing together just under the outer surface. One hole is bored in a 
slanting direction through the frame from the inside and the other 
arm of the V is started in the same hole outside and bored back again; 
the string being passed from the’inside through the frame then back 
again, knotted and looped to the next set of holes, and so on around 
the frame. This leaves a looped string on the inside of the frame with 
no cord projections on the outside. The attachment to the cross bar 
is either by a looped string as described above, or through vertical 
holes or slots or around the cross-bar. This is the Algonkian method. 
(2) In the Athabaskan type the attachment in the toe and heel spaces 
is also made with a looped string, but the hole is vertical through a 
wedge-shaped keel on the inside of the frame as in the lacrosse stick, 
