e ends with twine or strips
of hide. The length of the piece should be about six feet, more
or less, in proportion to the size of the individual who proposes
to wear the shoe. If the bending should prove difficult it may
be rendered an easy matter by the application of boiling water.
Across the front part two strips of stout leather, or other tough
hide, are then fastened, and these further secured together by three
or four bands on each side of the middle, as our drawing shows.

In the original Indian snow-shoe, from which our drawing was made,
the net work was constructed from strips of moose hide, which were
interlaced much after the manner of an ordinary cane-seated chair.
Strips of leather, deer skin, or even split cane, above alluded to,
may also be used, and the lacing may be either as our illustration
represents, or in the simpler rectangular woof seen in ordinary
cloth.

In order to attach the interlacing to the bow the latter should be
wound with wide strips of cane, if it can be procured, or otherwise
with strips of tough skin. The loops thus formed offer a continuous
security, and the whole interior, with the exception of the space
at the front between the cross pieces, should be neatly filled
with the next work. It is well to run the first lines
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across the shoe, from side to side, passing through the windings
of the bow. Across them, in the form of the letter X, the two other
cords should be interlaced, after the manner shown in the cut.
This forms a secure and not very complicated network, and is the
style usually adopted by the Indian makers.

[Illustration]

There is another mode of attaching the lace-work to the bow which
is also commonly employed, and consists in a series of holes bored
at regular intervals through the wood. The winding is thus dispensed
with, but the bow is sometimes weakened by the operation, and we are
inclined to recommend the former method in preference. In attaching
the shoe, the ball of the foot should be set on the second cross
piece, and there secured by a strip of hide, which should be first
adjusted as seen in the engraving, being afterward tied over the
foot and then behind the ankle. Snow-shoes are made in other ways,
but we believe that the typical Indian snow-shoe above described
is the best.

THE TOBOGGAN OR INDIAN SLEDGE.

For winter traffic over deep snows there is no better sled in the
world than the Indian toboggan. To the trapper during a win