THE "KOMATIK." 145 



in it at all times of the night or day, and are apparently never too 

 tired to play when they can "form a hand," and 



"When once agoing, 

 With pipes aglowing, 

 They sit it out till morning." 



Thursday the 2d. The boys and young fellows harnessed the 

 dogs for the first time to-night, but did not use them much. As 

 I have a few hours to spare I will try to describe here the komatik 

 or dog sledge and its use, as also the racket or snow shoe of this 

 region. 



In winter the greater part of the travelling is done in one of two 

 ways : either on sledges called "komatiks," drawn by dogs, or on 

 large pads that are called " racquets," and which are worn upon 

 the feet. As each of these requires a special description, I will 

 try to give one. 



The komatik, as has been said, is a sort of sledge or sled, and 

 looks very much like a magnified specimen of one of those latter 

 articles. Its dimensions vary from nine to thirteen feet in length, 

 from two to three feet in width, and it stands about eight inches 

 from the ground. The wood is wholly pine, and the side bars are 

 cut out of thin deal-board, planed down to about one or rarely two 

 inches in thickness, with the front ends turned up like the front run- 

 ner of a sled ; the sides are often bevelled so that the bottom is 

 one-fourth or one-half an inch wider than the top. The upper part 

 of the sled is made of a number of thin pieces of wood (usually 

 thirty-two) of equal length and about four inches in width, with the 

 ends rounded, and then notched — for a purpose that will appear 

 hereafter. The top and bottom pieces are similar, but of double 

 the width, while the thickness of all is about the same, generally 

 one-half an inch, though the end pieces are perhaps a little the 

 thicker. Each piece has two pair of holes bored through it on 

 either end, the distance between each pair being that of the width 

 of the top of the side bar, and the distance between each hole of 

 each pair about half an inch ; between each pair it is then gouged 

 out crosswise about one-fourth of an inch deep, while the inner 

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