Daily Kennebec journal., 1900-11-17

( and was surveying for a railway far west
on the prairies. The winter had set U,
and deep snow had covered the feds
Being skilful ski runner he made him
! self II pair of ski. The same dar~8ee had
been out trying these for the first time
group OF Indians came upon a track con-
sisting of two parallel grooves 0r burrows
in the snow. and never having seen sim
make Sui what kind of an animal 1t
might originate from. They followed the
track % the door or the Norweeian.s cot
tage. where they saw two strips Of wood
leaping against the wall. They measured
I the track and they measured these wood
en- things. and found that they were ex-
actly .he same breadth.
And now followed q very close invcstF-
CATION of these marvellous creatures.
which we're carefully measured on an
sides. When the Norwegian. as by
chance. came out of his cottage door the
natives darted away from the ski and
looked al something else, pretending not
even to have noticed them. The Norwe-
how how theS were used. They wished now 70
try them, but using them as they We're
accustomed 10 do their snowsh0es they
made slew progress and found them poor
The Norwegian then put them on AMI
proposed to race with the Indians ani
they were quite willing. But the sur
prise of these swift Indians. on their
light snowshoes, was great when they
discovered that they were only able 70
keep pace with them for a few hundred
yards and then rapidly dropped behind,
well-known prairies. lAfterward tAe
Norwegian helped them to make ski anG
some Of the Indians learned to use them
well, although men who are npt
very seldom become sxilful ski runnerss
The motion employed in ski-ing has no
resemblance to that employed iH.skating.s
While they are moved the ski are always
kept strictly parallel and as close tOgeth-
er as possible and should not be nftcd
from the ground-like Canadian snow
shoes. On fiat ground they should c0N-
stantly be kept gliding over the surface
Of the snow, while being driven forward
by alternate strokes from the hips apd-
thighs: and the body is thrown forward
may be increased by propulsion OF the
staff which the ski runner carries In his
hand.
ski runner will have to tack from side To
side. following a zigzag course or go, side
ways bringing the ski almost to a right
angle with the slope. But down hill the
Speed. and then It may we'll be possible
that he could "outstrip the birds in
flight" The ski now slide readily. and
the sleeper the slope the greater the
speed. the one thing necessary being to.
maintain the balance and to steer clear
of alf difficulties. such as trees and preci-
pices. The ski runner can so everywhere,
over mil ana NafISt. ana uOlniiS StopS
him so long as there is sufficient snow
TO move over ~ ~
A great art in ski running Is the jump
ing upon ski. 1t is generally done down
steep hillsides, which in the middle have
some natural breaks in the ground. OF
where a bank of snow is built Sliding
with a great pace from the top OF the
hill onto this bank. the jumper. owing 70
the sudden break in the ground. is thrown
far inro the air, and after a. longer or
shorter journey through space. he alights
on the slope below and continues his
headlong course at an even greater speed
than before. AS rule, he will even
very. much increase the length Of h:s
leap by taking spring just as he leaves
the projecting bank. The length Of such!
jumps Is very generally 20 or 50 feet. anu
in the later years jumps exceeding l1
feet are recorded.-Dr. Nansen IN I.ans
and Water.