LABRADOR JOURNAL 357 



upon his back; liis course will be continually in- 

 terrupted by rivers, lakes, or large ponds; he will 

 find the woods intolerably hot; he will find the 

 ground, almost every where, give way under his 

 feet, as if he were walking upon a bed of sponge; 

 and he will be incessantlv tormented bv millions 

 of flies. But it is excellent walking in the winter, 

 with a pair of rackets; and there is no obstruc- 

 tion from water, as all waters are firmly frozen. 

 The Esquimaux make use of a long sled,^ about 

 twenty-one feet by fourteen inches, the sides of 

 wliich are made of two inch plank, about a foot 

 broad; the under edges are shod with the jaw-- 

 bone of a w^hale, a quarter of an inch thick, fast- 

 ened on with pegs made out of the teeth of the 

 sea-cow;^ across the upper edges, are placed 

 broad, thin battens to fit and stow their baggage 

 upon. Thej^ yoke a number of stout dogs to this 

 sled, and travel at the rate of six or seven miles 

 an hour upon the ice, or barren hills: but they 

 cannot go into the woods, for the dogs would not 

 only bog in the snow there, but the sled would 

 sink too deep, and be always getting foul of the 

 young trees. The ^lountaineer method is the only 

 one adapted for the interior parts of the country: 

 their sleds are made of two thin boards of birch; 

 each about six inches broad, a quarter of an inch 

 thick, and six feet long: these are fastened par- 

 allel to each othoi- ])y slight battens, sewed on 

 with thongs of deer-skin; and the foremost end 

 is curved up to rise over the inequalities of the 



' Koraatik. ' Wnlrua. 



