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,[464] 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.[465]
Snowshoes appear to be rarely used among the eastern Eskimo. The only writer who mentions them is Kumlien.[466] 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.”
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.[467]) Fig. 355 from a photograph represents old Yûksĭña from Nuwŭk, with his two staffs, without which he was hardly able to walk.
Fig. 355.—Old “Chief” with staffs.