A Rocker-coaster.
A very good coasting sled is shown in the illustration of a rocker-coaster, and for short hills a sled of this sort will prove a very fast
Fig. 9. A Rocker-coaster
Snow-shoes
The long snow-shoe shown in Fig. 11 is the one commonly used by the Iroquois Indians, and it measures from 3 to 4 feet in length and from 12 to 15 inches in width. It is usually made from one long strip of hickory bent while green and dried in the desired shape, then braced and interlaced with thongs of rawhide or deer-gut, The rim is usually ¾ or ⅞ of an inch square and rounded on the outer edges. The braces or spreaders are let into the inner edges of the rim, as shown at A in Fig. 10, and held in place with a thong passed through a hole in the end of the piece and wrapped around the rim, as shown at B in Fig.10. The spreaders are of seasoned hickory, 2 inches wide and ⅝ of an inch thick. The edges are beveled slightly, and near the center line two rows of holes are made through which to lace the thongs. Two smaller sticks are arranged at each side of the broad spreaders, and the lattice-weaving is caught around them, as shown in Fig. 11.
Some of the thongs are caught over the rim, while others are passed through holes made in the edge, as in the case of tennis-rackets. Foot-laces are fastened at the front spreader, to which the shoe toes are lashed; for, when traveling, the heels should be allowed to be raised, while the ball of the foot and the whole snow-shoe remain flat on the snow,
The shoe in the form of a tennis-racket is the shape commonly used by the Eskimo, and is about 34 inches long and 15 inches wide. It is made somewhat similar to the Iroquois shoe, but the mesh is more open. The oval shoe is made from two U-shaped rims lashed together at the middle and provided with two spreaders; two stout pieces of rawhide are laced in the ends, and across the middle
Fig. 10. a stout lacing of thongs is woven between the spreaders and the sides of the rim.
These and many other forms of snow-shoes can be made by the boy who is interested in snow-shoe traveling, as the wood can easily be had and the rawhide thongs may be purchased at a hardware-store, where they are sold as belt-lacings for machinery, but they can be split and used for the snow-shoes.
Fig. 11. Snow-shoes
It is not true, as one sometimes hears, that snow-shoes enable one to make unusually rapid progress compared with ordinary walking on dry ground. But what is true is that with snow-shoes one may go faster over the snow than he would be able to when using ordinary boots.
