_Snowshoes (tûglu.)_--Snowshoes of a very efficient pattern and very
well made are now universally employed at Point Barrow. Although the
snow never lies very deep on the ground, and is apt to pile up in hard
drifts, it is sufficiently deep and soft in many places, especially on
the grassy parts of the tundra, to make walking without snowshoes very
inconvenient and fatiguing. I have even seen them used on the sea ice
for crossing level spaces when a few inches of snow had fallen.
Practically, every man in the two villages, and many of the women and
boys, have each their own pair of snowshoes, fitted to their size.
Each shoe consists of a rim of light wood, bent into the shape of a
pointed oval, about five times as long as the greatest breadth, and
much bent up at the rounded end, which is the toe. The sides are
braced apart by two stout cross-bars (_toe_ and _heel bar_) a little
farther apart than the length of the wearer’s foot. The space between
these two bars is netted in large meshes (_foot netting_) with stout
thong for the foot to rest upon, and the spaces at the ends are
closely netted with fine deerskin “babiche”[N458] (_toe_ and _heel
netting_). The straps for the foot are fastened to the foot netting in
such a way that while the strap is firmly fastened round the ankle the
snowshoe is slung to the toe. The wearer walks with long swinging
strides, lifting the toe of the shoe at each step, while the tail or
heel drags in the snow. The straps are so contrived that the foot can
be slipped in and out of them without touching them with the fingers,
a great advantage in cold weather. When deer hunting, according to
Lieut. Ray, they take a long piece of thong and knot each end of it to
the toe of one snowshoe. The bight is then looped into the belt behind
so that the snowshoes drag out of the way of the heels. When they wish
to put on the shoes they draw them up, insert their feet in the
straps, and fasten the slack of the lines into the belt in front with
a slip knot. When, however, they come to a piece of ground where
snowshoes are not needed, they kick them off, slip the knots, and let
them “drop astern.”
[Footnote N458: Twisted sinew is sometimes used. A pair of
snowshoes from Point Barrow, owned by the writer, are netted with
this material.]
We brought home three pairs of snowshoes, which represent very well
the form in general use. No. 89912 [1736], Fig. 350, has been selected
as the type. The rim is of willow, 51 inches long and 10½ inches wide
at the broadest part, and is made of two strips about 1 inch thick and
¾ wide, joined at the toe by a long lap-splice, held together by four
short horizontal or slightly oblique stitches of thong. Each strip is
elliptical in section, with the long axis vertical, and keeled on the
inner face, except between the bars. Each is tapered off considerably
from the toe bar to the toe, and slightly tapered toward the heel. The
two points are fastened together by a short horizontal stitch of
whalebone. The tip is produced into a slight “tail,” and the inner
side of each shoe is slightly straighter than the outer--that is to
say, they are “rights and lefts.”
[Illustration: FIG. 350.--Snowshoe. 1/8]
The bars are elliptical in section, flattened, and have their ends
mortised into the rim. They are about a foot apart, and of oak, the
toe bar 9.2 inches long and the heel bar 8.5. Both are of the same
breadth and thickness, 1 by ½ inch. There is also an extra bar for
strengthening the back part of the shoe 10 inches from the point. It
is also of oak, 4.8 inches long, 0.5 wide, and 0.3 thick. The toe and
heel nettings are put on first. Small equidistant vertical holes run
round the inside of each space. Those in the rim are drilled through
the keel already mentioned, and joined by a shallow groove above and
below; those in the bars are about ½ inch from the edge and joined by
a groove on the under side of the toe bar only. Into these holes is
laced a piece of babiche, which is knotted once into each hole, making
a series of beckets about ¾ inch wide round the inside of the space.
There are no lacing holes in the parts spliced at the toe, but the
lacing passes through a bight of each stitch. At the toe bar the
lacing is carried straight across from rim to rim about three times,
the last part being wound round the others.
On the left shoe the end is brought back on the left-hand side, passed
through the first hole in the bar from above, carried along in the
groove on the underside to the next hole, up through this and round
the lacing, and back through the same hole, the two parts being
twisted together between the bar and lacing. This is continued,
“stopping” the lacing in festoons to the bar, to the last hole on the
right, where it is finished off by knotting the end round the last
“stop.” The stops are made, apparently, by a separate piece on the
right shoe. The lacing on the heel bar is also double or triple, but
the last part, which is wound round the others, is knotted into each
hole as on the rim. The lacings on the rim of the heel space are
knotted with a single knot round each end of the extra bar.
In describing the nettings it will always be understood that the upper
surface of the shoe is toward the workman, with the point upward, if
describing the heel nettings, and vice versa for the toe. To begin
with the heel netting, which is the simpler: This is in two parts, one
from the heel bar to the extra bar (heel netting proper) and one from
the latter to the point (point netting). The netting is invariably
fastened to the lacing by passing the end through the becket from
above and bringing it back over itself. In making the point netting
the end of the babiche is knotted round the bar at the right-hand
lower corner with a single knot. The other end goes up to the lacing
at the point and comes down to the left-hand lower corner, where it is
hitched round the bar, as in Fig. 351, then goes up to the lowest
becket on the left side, crosses to the corresponding one on the
right, and comes down and is hitched as before round the bar inside of
the starting point. This makes a series of strands round the outside
of the space, two running obliquely from right to left, a long one on
the right side and a short one on the left side; two similar strands
from left to right, the long one on the left and the short one on the
right, and one transverse strand at the base of the triangle (see
diagram, Fig. 352_a_). The next round goes up to the first becket at
the top on the left hand, crosses to the corresponding one on the
right, and then makes the same strands as the first round, running
parallel to them and about half an inch nearer the center of the space
(see diagram, Fig. 352_b_). Each successive round follows the last,
coming each time about ½ inch nearer the center, till the space is all
filled in, which brings the end of the last round to the middle of the
bar, round which it is knotted with a single knot. This makes three
sets of strands, two obliquely longitudinal, one set from right to
left and one from left to right, and one transverse, all of each set
parallel and equidistant, or nearly so, and each interwoven
alternately over and under each successive strand it meets.
[Illustration: FIG. 351.--Knot in snowshoe.]
The right shoe has fourteen longitudinal strands in each set and
thirteen transverse; the left, one less in each set. On the left shoe
the end is carried up from the last knot to the lacing at the point,
and then comes back to the bar, fastening the other part to the
netting with six equidistant half-hitches. The heel netting proper is
put on in a slightly different fashion, as the space to be filled is
no longer triangular. It starts as before in the right hand lower
corner, where it is knotted into the becket, running across from the
rim to the heel-bar; goes up to the middle of the extra bar, round
which it is hitched as already described, then down to the left hand
lower corner; up to the first becket on the left rim, across to the
corresponding one on the right, and down to the first becket on the
heel bar. This completes the first round (see diagram, Fig. 353_a_).
The second round goes up to the hind bar at the left of the first,
comes down only to the transverse strand of the first round on the
left, goes up to the becket on the rim above the first, crosses to the
right, and comes back to the transverse turn of the first rounds. All
these strands except the transverse one are on the left of the first
round. The third round follows the first, which brings all its strands
except the transverse one to the right of the first round (see
diagram, Fig. 353_b_). The successive odd rounds follow the first and
the even rounds the second, bringing the longitudinal strands
alternately to the right and left of the first round, until the ends
of the hind bar are reached--that is to say, till the space _outside_
of the first round is filled--each transverse strand coming above the
preceding. This is done regularly on the left shoe, the tenth round
coming to the left end of the bar, and the eleventh to the right. The
twelfth round comes to the becket in the left hand upper corner, and
crosses to the corresponding becket on the other side. It then follows
the odd rounds, thus making six strands, four longitudinal and two
transverse, as in the point nettings. All the remaining rounds follow
this till the whole space is filled in, which brings the end of the
last round to the middle of the heel bar, where it is knotted to the
becket.
[Illustration: FIG. 352.--Point netting of snowshoe heel: (_a_)
first round; (_b_) first and second rounds.]
On the right shoe the maker seems to have made a mistake at the eighth
round, which obliged him to alter the order of the other strands and
finish with half a round. Instead of taking the end of the eighth
round down to the preceding transverse strand only, he has brought it
down to the heel bar, which brings the ninth round to the left,
following the even rounds, and coming to the end of the hind bar, the
tenth to the right end of the bar, so that it is the eleventh which
makes the first transverse turn at the top. The pattern is the same as
in the point nettings. The right shoe has 25, 24, and 19 strands in
the three sets respectively, and the left, 25, 25, and 19. The toe
nettings are put on in the same way, the first round going to the
middle becket at the toe, and crossing to the first becket on the
right hand, the second going to the first becket on the left hand and
crossing on the right to the first round, and the third going to the
first round at the toe and crossing on the right to the becket.
[Illustration: FIG. 353.--Heel netting of snow shoe; (_a_) first
round; (_b_) first, second, and third rounds.]
All the even rounds go to the becket at the toe and cross to the
preceding even round, and all the odd rounds go to the preceding odd
round at the toe and cross to the becket, until the space outside of
the first round is filled with longitudinal strands, when they begin
to make descending transverse turns across the toe, going from the
becket on the left to the corresponding one on the right and thus
following the odd rounds. The fourteenth round on the right shoe
begins this, the twelfth on the left. This brings the end of the last
round to the middle of the toe bar. It is then carried up to the
becket at the toe, brought down and up again, and the end is used to
fasten these three parts to the netting with equidistant half
hitches--fourteen on the right shoe and thirteen on the left. The
pattern, of course, is the same as before, with 33, 33, and 26 strands
on the right shoe, and 31, 31, and 25 on the left, in each set
respectively.
The foot-netting is of a very different pattern, and consists of seven
transverse and thirteen longitudinal strands, of which six, in the
middle, do not reach the toe bar, leaving an oblong transverse hole,
through which the toe presses against the snow at the beginning of the
step. The cross strands are a piece of stout thong (the skin of the
walrus or bearded seal), to the end of which is spliced with double
slits a long piece of thinner seal thong, which makes the longitudinal
ones. The seven transverse strands pass in and out through holes in
the rim, while the longitudinal strands pass over the bars, except the
middle three pairs, which pass round the horizontal strand behind the
toe hole, drawing it down to the next strand. The end of the
thirteenth strand wattles these two firmly together, as it does also
the two pairs of longitudinal strands on each side of the toe hole,
and finishes off the netting by whipping the two sets of strands
together with a “birdcage stitch.”
The object of the complicated wattling round the toe hole is, first,
to strengthen the hind border against which the toe presses in
walking, and second to give a firm attachment for the straps, which
are fastened at the junction of the doubled and twisted longitudinal
strands with the first and second transverse ones. Each strap is a
single piece of stout seal thong fastened to the shoe with two loops
as follows: At the inner side of the shoe the end is passed into the
toe hole and makes a round turn about the doubled longitudinal
strands, and then goes under the two cross strands, coming out behind
them and between the twelfth and thirteenth longitudinal strands. It
is then spliced into the standing part with two slits, making a becket
about 3 inches in diameter. The other end, leaving a loop large enough
to go round the wearer’s heel, is passed through the becket just made,
wound in the same way as before round the strands at the other corner
of the toe hole, and made into a similar becket by knotting the end to
the standing part with a marlinghitch with the bight left in. On the
right shoe this hitch is made in a slit in the standing part. The end
is probably left long for the purpose of adjusting the length of the
strap to the wearer’s foot.
In putting on the shoe, the toe is thrust sideways through the loop
till the bight comes well up over the heel, and then turned round and
stuck under the two beckets, which together form a strap to fasten the
toe down to the shoe, leaving the latter free to swing when the heel
is raised. By reversing the process the shoe is easily kicked off.
These straps must be fitted very nicely or else the shoe is apt to
come off. This is a very neatly made pair of shoes, and the woodwork
is all painted red above.
No. 89913 [1737] is a pair of similar shoes also from Utkiavwĭñ. The
frame is made in the same way and is wholly of willow except the extra
hind bar, which is of walrus ivory. These shoes are shorter and
somewhat broader than the preceding and not so well made. They are
48.5 inches long and 11 broad. The two shoes are not perceptibly
different in shape. The lacing, which is of sinew braid, is put on in
the same way as on the preceding pair, except that it is fastened
directly into the holes on the toe bars. The whole of the heel netting
is in one piece, and made precisely in the same way as the point
nettings of the first pair, the end being carried up the middle to the
point of the heel and brought down again to the bar as on the toe
nettings, but fastened with marling hitches. The number of strands is
the same in each shoe, twenty-three in each set. The toe nettings
follow quite regularly the pattern of the preceding pair.
[Illustration: FIG. 354.--Small snowshoe. 1/8]
The shoes are not quite the same size, as the right has 35, 35, and 28
strands, and the left 33, 33, and 25, in each set respectively. There
is no regular rule about the number of strands in any part of the
netting, the object being simply to make the meshes always about the
same size. The foot netting is made of stout and very white thong from
the bearded seal. These shoes have no strings.
No. 89914 [1738] is a pair of rather small shoes from Utkiavwĭñ, one
of which is shown in Fig. 354. They are rights and lefts, and are 42
inches long by 10 broad. The frame is wholly of oak, and differs from
the type only in having no extra hind bar, and having the heel and toe
bars about equal in length. The points are fastened together with a
treenail, as well as with a whalebone stitch. The heel-nettings are
put on with perfect regularity, as on the pair last described, but the
toe-nettings, though they start in the usual way, do not follow any
regular rule of sucession, the rounds being put on sometimes inside
and sometimes outside of the preceding, till the whole space is
filled. The foot-nettings are somewhat clumsily made, especially on
the right shoe, which appears to have been broken in several places,
and “cobbled” by an unskillful workman. There are only five transverse
strands which are double on the left shoe, and the longitudinal
strands are not whipped to these, but interwoven, and each pair
twisted together between the transverse strands. There is no wattling
back of the toe hole, and one pair of longitudinal strands at the side
of the latter is not doubled on the left shoe. The strings are put on
as on the type except that the ends are knotted instead of being
spliced. This pair of shoes was used by the writer on many short
excursions around the station during the winters of 1881-’82 and
1882-’83. They were old when purchased.
I had but one opportunity of seeing the process of making the frames
of the snowshoes. Ilûbw’ga, the “inland” native frequently mentioned,
a particularly skillful workman, undertook to make a pair of snowshoes
for Lieut. Ray at our quarters, but did not succeed in finishing them,
as the ash lumber which we brought from San Francisco proved too
brittle for the purpose. Having a long piece of wood, he “got out” the
whole rim in one piece. Ordinarily the splice at the toe must be made,
at least temporarily, before the frame can be bent into shape. He
softened up the wood by wrapping it in rags wet with hot water. Some
of the other natives, however, recommended that the wood should be
immersed in the salt water for a day or two, from which I infer that
this is a common practice. After slowly bending the toe, with great
care, nearly into shape, he inserted into the bend a flat block of
wood of the proper shape for the toe and lashed the frame to this.
A pointed block was also used to give the proper shape to the heel;
the bars being inserted in the mortises before the ends were brought
together. The temporary lashings are kept on till the wood dries into
shape. The toes are turned up by tying the shoes together, sole to
sole, and inserting a transverse stick between the tips of the toes.
The use of finely finished snowshoes of this pattern is of
comparatively recent date at Point Barrow. Dr. Simpson[N459] is
explicit concerning the use of snowshoes in his time (1853-’55). He
says: “Snowshoes are so seldom used in the north where the drifted
snow presents a hard frozen surface to walk upon, that certainly not
half a dozen pairs were in existence at Point Barrow at the time of
our arrival, and those were of an inferior sort.” I have already
mentioned the universal employment of these snowshoes at the present
day, so that the custom must have arisen in the last thirty years. The
pattern of shoe now used is identical with those of the Tinné or
Athabascan Indians (as is plainly shown by the National Museum
collections), and I am inclined to believe that the Point Barrow
natives have learned to use them from the “Nunatañmiun,” from whom,
indeed, they purchase ready-made snowshoes at the present day, as we
ourselves observed. The “Nunatañmiun,” or the closely related people
of the Kuwûk River, are known to have intimate trading relations with
the Indians, and even in Simpson’s time[N460] used the Indian shoe,
sometimes at least. The fact that in recent times families of the
“Nunatañmiun” have established the habit of spending the winter with
the people of Point Barrow and associating with them in the winter
deer-hunt, would explain how the latter came to recognize the superior
excellence of the Indian shoe.
[Footnote N459: Op. cit., p. 243.]
[Footnote N460: Op. cit., p. 244.]
This is more likely than that they learned to use them from the
eastern natives, whom they only meet for a short time in summer,
though the latter used the Indian style of snowshoes at least as early
as 1826. Franklin[N461] speaks of seeing, at Demarcation Point, a pair
of snowshoes netted with cords of deerskin and shaped like those of
the Indians of the Mackenzie.
[Footnote N461: 2d Exped., p. 142.]
Most of the other Eskimo of Alaska, who need to use snowshoes at all,
use a style of shoe very much less efficient and more roughly made,
the rim being of heavy, rather crooked pieces of willow or alder.
Simpson’s description will apply very well to this form, which is used
even as far north as Icy Cape, whence Mr. Nelson brought home a pair.
It also appears to be the prevailing, if not the only, form on the
Siberian coast and St. Lawrence Island, judging from Nordinskiöld’s
figure[N462] and Mr. Nelson’s collections.
[Footnote N462: Vega, vol. 2, p. 102 _a_.]
Simpson says:[N463] “The most common one is two pieces of alder, about
two feet and a half long, curved towards each other at the ends, where
they are bound together, and kept apart in the middle by two
crosspieces, each end of which is held in a mortise. Between the
crosspieces is stretched a stout thong, lengthwise and across, for the
foot to rest upon, with another which first forms a loop to allow the
toes to pass beneath; this is carried round the back of the ankle to
the opposite side of the foot, so as to sling the snowshoe under the
joint of the great toe.”
[Footnote N463: Op. cit., p. 243.]
When there are toe and heel nettings, they are of seal thong with a
large open mesh. The snowshoe from Norton Sound, figured by
Dall,[N464] is a rather neatly made variety of this form. South of the
Yukon, the use of the snowshoe appears to be confined to the Indians.
As shown by the Museum collections, the strings are always of the
pattern described throughout the whole northwestern region.[N465]
[Footnote N464: Alaska, p. 190, Fig. A.]
[Footnote N465: See, also, Dall, Alaska, p. 190, and Figs. A and
C.]
Snowshoes appear to be rarely used among the eastern Eskimo. The only
writer who mentions them is Kumlien.[N466] He says: “When traveling
over the frozen wastes in winter, they [i.e., the natives of
Cumberland Gulf] use snowshoes. These are half-moon shaped, of
whalebone, with sealskin thongs tightly drawn across. They are about
16 inches long. Another pattern is merely a frame of wood, about the
same length and 8 or 10 inches wide, with sealskin thongs for the foot
to rest on.”
[Footnote N466: Contributions, p. 42.]
The latter is apparently quite like the western snowshoes described by
Simpson.
_Staff._--The only staff used by the young and vigorous is the shaft
of the spear, when one is carried. The aged and feeble, however,
support their steps with one or two staffs about 5 feet long, often
shod with bone or ivory. (The old man whom Franklin met on the
Coppermine River walked with the help of two sticks.[N467]) Fig. 355
from a photograph represents old Yûksĭña from Nuwŭk, with his two
staffs, without which he was hardly able to walk.
[Footnote N467: 1st Exp., vol. 2, p. 180.]
[Illustration: FIG. 355.--Old “Chief” with staffs.]