224 FRANK FOKKSTEr's FIELD SPORTS. 



It is no easy matter to walk on snovv-slioes in the first in- 

 stance, and a good many tuniMes are inevitable to a learner; 

 but snow is a soft substratum whereupon to fall, and the choking 

 up of gun-barrels, and the wetting of ammunition, is the worst 

 evil to be apprehended. Befoie putting on the snow-shoes, a 

 couple of pair of woollen socks should be indued, then a flannel 

 slipper, and above that a regula ; Indian mocassin, the coml»ined 

 thickness of which will generally save the loot fr(>m l)eing 

 galled liy the thongs of the shoe ; though neither this, nor any 

 other device, can ward off the much dreaded 7nal a raqiicttc, or 

 painful swelling of the ankle-joint, in consequence of the tension 

 of the sinews, by the weight and drag of the large frame, when 

 clogged with frozen snow, during a severe tramp. 



For this practice is the only sure preventive ; though 1 have 

 no doidjt the pain and duration of the ailment could be much 

 mitigated and diminished by the use of that most excellent 

 remedy for all strains, flows, bruises, rheumatic affections, or the 

 like, well known as Bertine's LixVIAMent. I am never now 

 without this invaluable lotion, which I have come to regard as 

 an indispensable accompaniment to a sportsman's outfit, and 

 which I strenuously recommend to all my readers, as sure to 

 relieve them from much present pain, and likely to spare them 

 a large doctor's bill in the prospective. 



But to resume, — with the feet thus fortified, and a good pair 

 of stout light snow-shoes, a good walker will find himself, after 

 a little practice, able to travel both rapidly and pleasantly over 

 the stainless snow of those hyperborean wilds, and to run down 

 the great Stags of the North in their own frozen haunts. 



No directions, nor aught but experience and practice, can 

 teach the tyro this method of progression, but it is well to ob- 

 serve that the principal knack to be acquired, is to throw the 

 feet widely apart, so as to avoid kicking your own shins with 

 the edges of the broad snow-shoe ; to clear above a yard at each 

 stride, so as to avoid ti-eading with the heel of one shoe on the 

 toe of the other, which is sure to bring you on your nose ; and 

 to give a circular swing to the log, which shall plant your foot 

 on the ground somewhat in-toed, al'erlhe Indian fashion. 



