THE MONTAGNAIS INDIANS 



Hanging in the vestibule of the little office 

 of the Post were several pairs of snow-shoes, 

 discarded for a brief season between snows. 

 The Labrador snow-shoe or racquette is almost 

 everywhere tailless or nearly so; in fact their 

 outline is almost circular or only slightly ovoid, 

 but they make up in breadth what they lack in 

 length. Some of them, however, have short 

 rounded tails and are appropriately called 

 " beaver- tails." The absence of tails makes 

 progress through scrubby woods and brush 

 easier than where the ordinary elongated shoes 

 are used, and the Labrador racquettes are par- 

 ticularly adapted to the quick turns needed by 

 those who hunt and tend traps. On that 

 account they are very useful when one is follow- 

 ing and studying birds, for with these shoes 

 one can easily turn completely around in a 

 small space, while with the long ones a con- 

 siderable amount of backing and filling is 

 necessary, as well as careful attention to the 

 tails of the shoes, during which process the birds 

 may be lost to sight. I have found them very 

 satisfactory. 



One of the buildings of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company here at Mingan was built about 60 

 173 



