246 My Dogs in the Northland 



from the ground, are the best for travelling 

 through certain sections of broken country, 

 and especially over the great rough ice 

 fields of the Northern seas. 



The perfect sled, however, for use in the 

 forest and lake regions, where we spent our 

 years when in that Northland, was made 

 exactly on the same plan as are the tobog- 

 gans of Quebec. From the Red River 

 Settlement we had sent out to us by boats 

 in the summer time, some good oak boards. 

 They were twelve feet long, eight or nine 

 inches wide, and an inch thick. Two of 

 these were matched and then firmly fas- 

 tened edge to edge to each other with strong 

 cross-bars. Then one end was planed down, 

 until it was not more than half of the thick- 

 ness of the rest of the boards. The thin 

 end was then thoroughly steamed for at 

 least a day, and then, in a place prepared, 

 was bent in the shape required for the head 

 of the sled. Strong deer-skin thongs, well 

 tied, held every part in its right position, 

 and so, as soon as the parts softened by the 

 steam had become hard and rigid, the sled 

 was about finished. Two strong deer-skin 

 loops were fastened at the front, to which 

 the traces of the dogs were attached when 



