GRAND RAPIDS 



17 



There are two sleds used, the cariole for passengers, and the 

 fiat sled for freighting. The sled itself, which is the same in 

 both, is made of either birch or oak in the Northwest and of 

 birch in the North. It is about eight feet long, sixteen inches 

 wide in front, and fourteen behind. It is made of two or three 

 boards curved upward in front to a height of two feet and then 

 bent abruptly backward and downward; four or five crossbars 

 strongly bound with babiche — a line made from green deer- 

 skin — hold it together; loops of babiche are placed along the 

 sides of the flat sleds through which the lines of braided deer- 

 skin are passed in diagonal cross-lashings to bind down the 

 load which is contained in a mooseskin "wrapper." The cari- 

 ole has sides of moose parchment permanently stretched from 

 the front to a board of equal height which serves as a back. 

 Behind this, the sled projects two feet or more and affords 

 room for the driver to stand when showing off the strength 

 of his team, on his arrival at a settlement; or, upon a journey, 

 without an accompanying flat sled, the fish for the dogs are 

 piled there. The curved front allows just enough space to 

 admit the tea and cooking kettles, placed one within the other 

 and held in a bag fastened by a drawing string at the top. The 

 cariole is a narrow portable bed in which the traveller may sit 

 or recline at full length and sleep with comparative comfort,, 

 wrapped in robes and blankets. It is usually painted in as 

 many colors as can be obtained. 



Snow-Shoes. I made my first attempt at snow-shoeing on 

 December 1st. The shoes were small and the snow soft so 

 that they tended constantly to pitch forward and catch the 

 upturned front under the snow. The disentanglement of a 

 capsized snow-shoe in soft deep snow, is not easily accom- 

 plished. The victim fills his mittens with snow, wrenches his 

 ankles, and breaks his snow-shoe lines in his efforts to right 

 himself. Many who are not familiar with the use of Canadian 

 snow-shoes think that one can move faster on them by taking 

 a sliding step, which is, of course, a mistake, as they are not 

 used with a skating motion at all. They are a positive encum- 

 brance which must be raised at each step so that the body of 

 the shoe may be clear of the surface. The step is therefore 

 higher when the soft snow allows the shoe to sink; it is length- 

 ened with large shoes which glide over each other so that the 

 feet are laterally separated but little more than usual. 

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