150 THE FOOT-GEAR OF HUNTERS. 



or they will hear him, and slip stealthily off before he 

 has a chance of getting a sight of them. 



This will oblige him to see to his footgear. Heavy 

 hob-nailed English shooting boots are too noisy for 

 forest hunting, except in wet stormy weather. We 

 have tried several expedients to counteract this fault 

 such as putting on covers of raw hide etc. but this 

 renders walking in them very fatiguing. Then, the 

 Red Indian moccassins, besides becoming useless in 

 wet weather, destroy the feet of persons who wear boots, 

 and soon cause great pain to the joints of the large 

 toes, which being unsupported by a hard sole as in a 

 boot, soon get strained ; * because the white man walks 

 with, his toes turned out which throws the whole weight 

 of the body in walking on the big toe. This is the 

 reason why American Indians, and indeed all barefooted 

 savages, and sandal-wearing natives, habitually more 

 or less turn the toes in while walking. This matter 

 the reader will find treated of more at length in another 

 portion of this work. Meanwhile reverting to the 

 question of hunting shoes we have taken much pains 

 to consult a number of the best authorities on the 

 subject, and find that the majority of those best qua- 

 lified to judge of such matters generally agree that 

 light pliable soled footgear are the best for stalking 

 purposes except of course on very rocky ground, 

 where the strong hob-nailed British shooting boot 

 sometimes becomes all but indispensable, as light shoes 

 etc., soon get destroyed, especially if the ground is 

 very wet. There are some evident objections to shoes, 



* We are borne out in this opinion by Mr. J. K. Lord. (See his 



At Home in the Wilderness, p. 1 43 ; but Mr. Van Dyke is all for 



the Indian moccassin See his Still-Hunter, 1888, chap, xxxiv, pp. 

 38081). 



