208 LABRADOR 



farther coasts, the almost distressing situation of the 

 Indians is at last relieved. 



During the period of open water there is practically no 

 foot travel. Some of the hunting-grounds, however, can- 

 not be reached otherwise, and these are unoccupied until 

 late. Mistinik, for instance, is reached by sleds from as far 

 as the lakes of the Maniquagan, only two hundred miles from 

 the Gulf, where the canoes are laid up and a stay made until 

 winter sets in and the foot travel comes on. The tabanask, 

 the sled for light snow, is as narrow as sixteen inches and 

 is one-fourth or five-sixteenths of an inch thick. The 

 thinner and more flexible the bottom, the easier the sled is 

 to haul, but as they wear a little with use, it is better to 

 start a long journey with a little extra stiffness. The ma- 

 terial of the sled is usually white birch, sometimes larch. 

 The latter is not likely to ice-up and stick in changing tem- 

 peratures. This icing-up may occur at zero, or below, 

 and is a very serious hindrance ; not much is done to pre- 

 vent it, but there is no doubt of the good effect to come 

 of such pitch-beeswax-tallow treatment as is given to the 

 Norwegian ski, for the same sort of evil. Thin grease, or 

 still worse, oil, does decided harm. The pulling is done from 

 the head with the hands twisted into the lines behind the 

 back. In midwinter the snow is dry and gritty, and a load 

 of two hundred pounds, taken over a ten-mile stretch, may 

 be a hard day's work for a strong man. As the snow settles 

 in the spring, the loads and mileage increase, runner-sleds 

 are taken into use, and on the lakes and rivers a load of 

 five hundred pounds may move twenty or twenty-five miles 

 a day. All the snow-shoes of the country are of the " round " 

 type, which is doubtless better than any other for light snow 



