SNOW-SHOES. 



803 



1879 to 1886, with their literary and musical 

 entertainments, were widely known and largely 

 attended. Their great success was due en- 

 tirely to her skill and energy. In 1878 she 

 undertook ethnological work under the au- 

 spices of the Smithsonian Institution, and ob- 

 tained and classified over 15,000 words of the 

 Iroquois dialects. To facilitate her work in 

 this direction, she spent two summers with the 

 remnant of the Tuscaroras in Canada, and was 

 adopted into the tribe, receiving the name of 

 Ka-tci-tci-sta-kwast, which means ''Beautiful 

 Flower." She published numerous papers on 

 scientific subjects, and was a member of So- 

 rosis, of the Meridian, and of the Historical 

 Society of New York, of the London Scientific 

 Society, and the only lady Fellow of the New 

 York Academy of Sciences. She was a cor- 

 responding member of the Numismatic and 

 Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia, and of 

 the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science. At the meeting of the As- 

 sociation in 1885 she was secretary of the sec- 

 tion of geology and geography. Her collec- 

 tion is in the possession of her sons, three of 

 whom survive her. Her Iroquois-English dic- 

 tionary was in course of printing at the time of 

 her death. A volume of essays and poems by 

 the ^Esthetic Society, written and delivered 

 under her direction, was issued in 1883. 



SNOW-SHOES, a contrivance consisting of 

 light wooden frame, filled in with a netting 

 that, being attached to the feet, enables a per- 

 son to travel over the surface of deep snows. 

 A light stick of seasoned ash or hickory, about 

 half an inch in diameter, is selected, and bent 

 in the form of a long ellipse that contracts 

 sharply toward the point where the ends are 

 brought together and fastened with thongs. 

 The dimensions of this frame usually are from 



is fastened by winding the sinews around the 

 outer frame, and by heavy cords or lacings 

 that run to the cross-pieces, but in the center 

 an opening three or four inches square is left. 

 The remaining sections are filled in with a finer 

 lacing and mesh, and the netting is fastened to 

 the frame by thongs that pass through holes. 



The snow-shoe is fastened to the moccasined 

 foot by a thong, the ends of which are passed 

 through two strengthened meshes just back on 

 either side of the opening left behind the front 

 cross-piece in the middle section. The thong, 

 being brought back through the adjoining 

 meshes, forms a loose loop, into which the 

 front part of the foot is placed, and by draw- 



two to four feet in length and ten to eighteen 

 inches in greatest width. The frame is then 

 strengthened by mortising in a narrow, flat 

 strip of wood five or six inches from the front ; 

 and double that distance from the narrow part, 

 or what is termed the "tail" of the shoe, a 

 similar piece is inserted. The middle section 

 of the frame is filled, except a space about 

 three inches wide next to the cross-pieces, by 

 weaving across with half-inch meshes strong 

 deer-sinews, catgut, or rawhide. This netting 



ing in the ends of the thong the slack loop is 

 pulled tightly down over the lower part of the 

 instep. The ends of the thong are then passed 

 under the loop on either side of the foot, and, 

 being half-hitched, are drawn back and tied 

 about the ankle. Some of the snow-shoes now 

 made have a sort of harness, which buckles 

 about the foot; but these are cumbersome, 

 and are little used. 



The Chippewa shoe is square toed and flat; 

 the Jnnuit, oval and flat; the Ingalik, large, 

 sharply curved up in front; that of the Sioux, 

 pointed and slightly turned up at the toe ; shoes 

 from Oregon and 

 Utah are oval at 

 each end, or nearly 

 round, with lacings 

 running across ir- 

 regularly. The 

 Hudson Bay snow- 

 shoe is small and of 

 a regulation size, in 

 order to beat a uni- 

 form trail, in which 

 the sleds or tobog- 

 gans may run more 

 easily. These shoe's 

 curve up in the 



front, and are furnished with a knob to break 

 a thick crust. In all these varying types of 

 shoe* the manner in which the web or netting 

 is inserted differs; but the opening through 

 which the toe plays, and the manner of fasten- 

 ing, is in common. 



The ordinary form is the one presenting an 

 oval slightly curved-np front and narrow-ex- 

 tending tail, best known as the Iroquois. This 

 is the type most in use throughout Eastern 

 Canada and the United States. These shoe* 



