ESKIMOS 147 



are bad substitutes for bone or ivory, as they offer much more 

 friction in cold weather when the snow is fine and gritty. 



During the period of intense cold, lasting from December to 

 April, the shoeing of the sled is of mud or lichens, froztm over 

 the regular shoeing. The best material for this purpose is the 

 dark brown peaty muck formed from the decay of mosses in 

 swamps. Where this cannot be obtained, the white reindeer 

 moss is mixed to a thick paste with water. This shoeing is 

 attached to the runners in the following manner : when cotton 

 rags are available, these are wetted and frozen to the bottom of 

 the runner, so as to cover the shoeing and extend a couple of. 

 inches up both sides of the runner. The muck, which has been 

 boiled to a thick paste, is then applied warm over the cloth, and 

 is roughly shaped by hand, so as to have a thickness of about an 

 inch, with a section resembling the bulb of a heavy steel rail. 

 After being roughly shaped, the muck is allowed to freeze hard, 

 when it is worked over with a wood plane, and the inequalities 

 are reduced to a smooth surface. It is then covered with a thin 

 film of ice, either bv lightly running a rag wet with warm fresh 

 water over the surface, or by squirting a small even stream from 

 the mouth. Great care is taken to have the iceing uniform, and 

 every portion of the muck covered. This coating of ice is 

 renewed every morning, and a sled so shod slips over the in- 

 tensely cold snow with much less friction than when shod, in 

 any other known manner. As the weather gets warmer this 

 muck is removed, and the ivory, bone or iron shoeing used. 



The number of dogs in the team varies from eight to two or 

 three, an average team being six. Each dog has a separate trace. 

 The harness is formed of two loops of sealskins, which pass 

 under the forelegs, and are sewn together on the breast and 

 joined by a strip about four inches long over the shoulders, thus 

 forming an opening for the head. The loops are brought to- 

 gether in the middle of the back, and the trace is there attached 

 to their united ends. The trace is made of a single length of 



