l large and
heavily constructed, being more adapted to the carriage of considerable
burdens than to very quick travelling. They varied in size, being from
six feet and a half to nine feet in length, and from eighteen inches to
two feet in breadth. Some of those at Igloolik were of larger
dimensions, one being eleven feet in length, and weighing two hundred
and sixty-eight pounds, and two or three others above two hundred
pounds. The runners are sometimes made of the right and left jaw-bones
of a whale; but more commonly of several pieces of wood or bone scarfed
and lashed together, the interstices being filled, to make all smooth
and firm, with moss stuffed in tight, and then cemented by throwing
water to freeze upon it. The lower part of the runner is shod with a
plate of harder bone, coated with fresh-water ice to make it run
smoothly, and to avoid wear and tear, both which purposes are thus
completely answered. This coating is performed with a mixture of snow
and fresh water about half an inch thick, rubbed over it till it is
quite smooth and hard upon the surface, and this is usually done a few
minutes before setting out on a journey. When the ice is only in part
worn off, it is renewed by taking some water into the mouth, and
spirting it over the former coating. We noticed a sledge which was
extremely curious, on account of one of the runners and a part of the
other being constructed without the assistance of wood, iron, or bone of
any kind. For this purpose, a number of sealskins being rolled up and
disposed into the requisite shape, an outer coat of the same kind was
sewed tightly round them; this formed the upper half of the runner, the
lower part of which consisted entirely of moss moulded while wet into
the proper form, and being left to freeze, adhering firmly together and
to the skins. The usual shoeing of smooth ice beneath completed the
runner, which, for more than six months out of twelve, in this climate,
was nearly as hard as any wood; and for winter use, no way inferior to
those constructed of more durable materials. The cross-pieces which form
the bottom of the sledges are made of bone, wood, or anything they can
muster. Over these is generally laid a sealskin as a flooring, and in
the summer time a pair of deer's horns are attached to the sledge as a
back, which in the winter are removed, to enable them, when stopping, to
turn the sledge up, so as to prevent the dogs running away with it. The
whole is