208 LABRADOR 
farther coasts, the almost distressing situation of the 
Indians is at last relieved. 
During the period of open water there is practically no 
foot travel. Some of the hunting-grounds, however, can- 
not be reached otherwise, and these are unoccupied until 
late. Mistinik, for instance, is reached by sleds from as far 
as the lakes of the Maniquagan, only two hundred miles from 
the Gulf, where the canoes are laid up and a stay made until 
winter sets in and the foot travel comeson. The tabanask, 
the sled for ight snow, is as narrow as sixteen inches and 
is one-fourth or five-sixteenths of an inch thick. The 
thinner and more flexible the bottom, the easier the sled is 
to haul, but as they wear a little with use, it is better to 
start a long journey with a little extra stiffness. The ma- 
terial of the sled is usually white birch, sometimes larch. 
The latter is not likely to ice-up and stick in changing tem- 
peratures. This icing-up may occur at zero, or below, 
and is a very serious hindrance; not much is done to pre- 
vent it, but there is no doubt of the good effect to come 
of such pitch-beeswax-tallow treatment as is given to the 
Norwegian ski, for the same sort of evil. Thin grease, or 
still worse, oil, does decided harm. The pulling is done from 
the head with the hands twisted into the lines behind the 
back. In midwinter the snow is dry and gritty, and a load 
of two hundred pounds, taken over a ten-mile stretch, may 
be a hard day’s work forastrong man. As the snow settles 
in the spring, the loads and mileage increase, runner-sleds 
are taken into use, and on the lakes and rivers a load of 
five hundred pounds may move twenty or twenty-five miles 
aday. All the snow-shoes of the country are of the “round” 
type, which is doubtless better than any other for light snow 
