Snow-shoes

Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 9: Bound to Swansea, p. 537

Snow-shoes, a species of shoe whose broad surface prevents the foot from sinking in the snow. The Canadian snow-shoe (3 to 5 feet long and 1 to 2 feet wide) presents somewhat the shape of a tennis racquet with a short handle behind and long oval body contracted in front. It consists of a light frame of tough wood supporting a web of raw hide, to which, on the widest part, the foot is fastened by thongs, which leave the heel free. The Norwegian ski is simply a long, narrow wooden runner (5 to 10, but usually 8 feet long, by some 4 inches wide), about 1 inch thick at the middle, but thinner towards the ends, and turned up in a curve at the front (sometimes slightly at the back also).

Illustration of a Snow-shoe, showing its elongated, oval shape and the web of raw hide.
Snow-shoe.
Source scan(s): p. 0550