No makeshift contrivance, so far as I am aware, will
replace the iron last used by shoemakers when they hammer nails into the
boot. There is a well-known contrivance of screws with jagged heads, for
screwing into boots when a little ice has to be crossed. They do
excellently for occasional purposes, but not for regular ice-work, as
they are easily torn out. Crampons are soles of leather with spikes; they
are tied over the shoes, but neither English mountaineers nor modern
guides ever employ them: nailed boots are better.
Snow Spectacles.--The Esquimaux, who have no coloured glass, or any
equivalent for it, cut a piece of soft wood to the curvature of the face;
it is about two inches thick, and extends horizontally quite across both
eyes, resting on the nose, a notch being cut in the wood to answer the
purpose of the bridge of a pair of spectacles. It is tied behind the
ears; and, so far as I have now described it would exclude every ray of
light from the eyes. Next, a long narrow slit, of the thickness of a thin
saw-cut, is made along the middle almost from end to end. Through this
slit the wearer can see very fairly. As it is narrower than the diameter
of the pupil of his eye, the light that reaches his retina is much
diminished in quantity. Crape or gauze is a substitute for coloured
glass.
Mask.--Is merely a pocket-handkerchief, with strings to tie it over the
face; eye-holes are cut in it, also a hole for the nose, over which a
protecting triangular piece of linen is thrown, and another hole opposite
the mouth, to breathe through it is drawn below the chin so as to tie
firmly in place.
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