258 REPOET OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. 



fectly glazed; the sled when ready for use will weigh over 300 pounds, 

 and they load them with the carcasses of from seven to nine deer, weigh- 

 ing over 100 pounds each. Men, women, and children harness them- 

 selves in with the dogs to haul these loads to the coast, often the dis- 

 tance of 100 miles and over, seldom making more than 8 or 10 miles 

 each day." (Report of the Expedition to Point Barrow, Alaska, Lieut. 

 P. H. Ray, p. 28.) 



The Eskimo sled is framed of spruce, birch, or whalebone, strongly 

 bound with thongs, and the runners shod with smooth strips of whale's 

 jaw-bone. This sled is heavy and fit only for traveling over ice and snow. 



Indian sleds of the interior are lighter, the runners being of thin, 

 flexible boards. 



Sleds used by voyageurs of Hudson Bay are of different construction. 

 Three boards, each about 1 foot in width and 12 feet in length, thinned 

 and curved into a semicircle at one end, are placed side by side, and 

 firmly lashed together with thongs. (Bancroft, i, 52.) 



SLEDGE ISLAND. 



This sledge is about 20 inches in breadth and 10 feet in length, a sort 

 of rail-work on each side, and shod with bone, and put together with 

 wooden pins or with thongs or lashings of whalebone. (Cook's Voy.) 



KAMTSCHATKA. 



The length of the body of this sledge is about 4J feet and the breadth 

 1 foot. It is made in form of a crescent, of light, tough wood, fastened 

 together with wicker-work, and, among the principal people, is stained 

 with red and blue, the seat being covered with furs or bear-skins. It 

 has four legs about 2 feet in height, resting on two long flat pieces of 

 wood of the breadth of 5 or (3 inches, extending a foot beyond the body 

 of the sledge at each end. These turn up before, somewhat like a skate, 

 and are shod with the bone of some animal. The carriage is ornamented 

 at the fore part with tassels of colored cloth and leather thongs. It has 

 a cross-bar, to which the harness is jointed, and links of iron or small 

 bells are hanging to it, which by the jingling are supposed to encourage 

 the dogs. (Cook.) 



YUKON EIVER. 



The snow shoes used in this district are about 4J feet long, are rounded 

 aud bent upward in front and pointed behind. They are made of birch 

 wood and covered at either end with a fine netting of gut. The lash- 

 ings are strips of rawhide. (Whymper.) 



The sledge consists of a plank, one end of which has been softened by 

 steam and bent in prow-like form. The material does not exceed one- 

 half an inch in thickness and the width varies from 10 to 14 inches. 

 Thongs keep the curved ends in place. It is especially adapted to soft 



