FOREST LIFE. 97 



this sled ; I therefore pass it, remarking, by-the-way, that, con- 

 sidering the service for which it is designed, it is made very 

 strong, as it is required to sustain one end, or more than half 

 the weight of the largest trees upon a single bar : in some cases 

 several tuns burden rest upon a single point. "While this bar 

 alone sustains one half the entire log, it is also the only part of 

 the sled to which the heavy trunks of those massive trees are 

 bound ; it therefore draws as well as sustains the load, challeng- 

 ing the powers of six and even eight of the stoutest oxen. 



In the process of loading, the bob-sled is placed several feet 

 from the side of that end of the log which is to be placed upon 

 it. Then a large skid, from four to eight inches in diameter and 

 several feet in length, is placed near the large bar running un- 

 der the log. A chain is next attached to the bar, passing now 

 under, then over the log, back to the sled, crossing it. It is 

 then attached by other chains* to one or two yoke of oxen, whose 

 united strength is requisite to roll one end of it upon this big 

 bar, to which it is bound with strong, heavy chains. Of late, 

 the tackle and fall has been introduced in loading, which very 

 much facilitates the operation. 



The six oxen are now attached to the sled, one pair of them 

 to the tongue ; the others are attached by chains in advance as 

 leaders. The teamster now arranges every ox in the most ad- 

 vantageous position, passing through several evolutions with his 

 goad stick ; then giving the word of command, they settle to it. 

 Slowly it moves forward, while the vociferations of the animated 

 teamster, the squatting-like posture of the hard-drawn team, in- 

 dicate the importance and interest of the occasion ; and the bob- 

 sled, as though it were a thing of life, actually screams out at 

 every joint as if in keenest agony beneath its ponderous load. 



The reader has perhaps been present at a "launching;" the 

 nervous emotions experienced in the process described, iucludi)ig 

 the felling of the gigantic Pines, the skidding and hauling, quitd 

 E 



