ce of wire.
The latter was bent double to receive the cord which was wedged in
between the two arms of the needle.

THE IROQUOIS SHOE.

[Illustration: Fig. 29. Bending the Hickory Strips.]

[Illustration: Fig. 30. Frame of Iroquois Shoe.]

[Illustration: Fig. 31. Iroquois Snow Shoe.]

But the best snow shoe we made was the Iroquois shoe. The frame of this
shoe was made of hickory strips of the same width and thickness as used
in the Sioux shoe, but 8 feet long. The strips were bent in a loop and
the ends were bolted together. How to bend the wood without breaking it
seemed a very difficult problem. Wood, we knew, could be easily bent
without breaking if boiled or steamed for a while; but we had nothing
large enough in which to boil a strip of wood 8 feet long. Bill hit upon
the plan of wrapping the stick with burlap and then pouring boiling
water on it until it became sufficiently soft to bend easily. An old
oats-sack was cut up into strips and wound onto the hickory sticks for a
distance of 18 inches at each side of the center. We then repaired to
the kitchen to do the steaming. The hickory stick was held over a large
dish-pan filled with boiling water, and from this we dipped out the
water and poured it slowly over the burlap wrapping of the stick. After
a little of this treatment the stick was sufficiently steamed to permit
of bending to the required shape. The ends were then firmly secured by
means of bolts passed through bolt holes which had been previously
drilled. The frame was completed by fitting the spreader sticks in
place, after which it was laid away to dry. When the frame was perfectly
dry we started weaving the web. In this case, however, instead of cord
we used cane strips, which we had bought from a chair caner. This
necessitated drilling holes in the side sticks to receive the cane
strips. The web consisted of strands crossing each other diagonally, as
illustrated. Our second pair of Iroquois snow shoes was made with a web
of rawhide which we bought from a hardware store at Millville.

THE AINU SNOW SHOE.

[Illustration: Fig. 32. Ainu Snow Shoe.]

One of the snowshoes described in the book was very much like Fred's
barrel-hoop snow shoe in appearance. According to the description, it
was a type used by the Ainus, a peculiar people living in the cold
northern islands of Japan. As the shoe seemed quite simple and rather
unique, we thought we would make one like it. Two hickory strips each 4