338 



ACCOUNT OF THE INDIANS. 



noes, made of the bark of the birch or spruce fir 

 tree ; and two persons in one of them, will easily 

 go fifty miles in a day. The paddles, with which 

 the cano,e is moved, are about five feet long, 

 half of which length, is a blade, four inches wide. 



The Indians are good walkers ; and will at 

 sometimes, travel forty miles in a day, with a pret- 

 ty heavy load upon their backs. 



In the winter season, the Indians use snow 

 shoes ; and it would be impossible to travel with- 

 out them. They are constructed in several differ- 

 ent shapes ; but the following is the most common 

 form. They take a piece of wood, and with a 

 crooked knife, work it down, until it is about two 

 inches wide, and an inch thick. These sticks are 

 fastened together at one end, which constitutes 

 the hind part ; they are then bent so as to be 

 about a foot asunder in the middle, and to come 

 nearly together forward. The space between 

 these sticks, they fill up with a lace work of thongs 

 of deer skin. Other snow shoes come quite to a 

 point before, where they are turned up ; the side 

 pieces are from eighteen to twenty four inches 

 apart, and, in the fall of the year, when the snow 

 is light, they are seven feet in length. The inner 

 side piece is nearly straight, and the outside is 

 arching, and the extremities behind, come togeth- 

 er in a point. The space between them, is work- 



