TOBOGGANING.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4, 15 January 1901, Page 7

TOBOGGANING.

The Canadian toboggan is a light, strong article, about five or six feet in length, and about twenty inches in width, composed of a number of narrow wooden strips secured longitudinally together, curling upwards at the front. A handrail sometimes extends along each side of the toboggan, to enable the passengers to hold on, but the general rule is for one passenger to clasp the person seated next in front, the whole row of travellers being thus linked together for their rapid flight. In some cases there are five or six occupants on one toboggan, and with such a combined weight the sledge flies down the chute as if impelled from a cannon. Both ladies and gentlemen enter into the sport with great gusto, for the fun is fast and furious. When there is only one traveller to the toboggan, he lies prone upon it, and in this manner, on account of the small amount of resistance that is offered by the atmosphere, the maximum of speed is gained. The chutes are properly controlled, in order to avoid accidents. One toboggan is not permitted to leave the summit of the chute until the preceding one has cleared the bottom of the blide. Occasionally, by some mischance incurred through faulty manipulation of the toboggan, a spill occurs on the chute, and if a following toboggan were to dash into the overturned vessel, the result would be as disastrous as a collision between express trains. The head-quarters of European tobogganing are in the Swiss Alps, and it is a moot question if even the various tobogganing chutes in Canada can claim a popularity equal in extent to that which clings to the ' runs,' as they are called, of St. Moritz, Upper Engadine. One of the 1 most famous is the Cresta Run, just under one mile in length. As in the case of the Canadian ' slides,' the runs at St. Moritz aro specially prepared. The first heavy fall of snow is anxiously awaited by the committee who control the ' runs.' Unless King Winter is unusually capricious, this generally takes place about November. Workmen then sally forth, and operations on the run are rapidly in progress. The run is about five feet in width, formed in the shape of a groove, and the removed snow is banked up on each side, sometimes making a solid white wall twenty feet in height. The run is then flooded with water, which, under the influence of a sharp frost, is soon transformed into a smooth, slippery surface. As it is impossible to make the track in one straight line from post to finish, great care has to be observed in the formation of the links where corners occur, otherwise the tobogganer will meet with inevitable disaster. Common on the Swiss runs are the toboggans of the Canadian type, but the native toboggans are raised on runners shod with iron or steel. The expert rider lies prone upon the toboggan, head foremost, holding on to the vehicle by th framework of each side. The toboggan is steered to a very large extent by means of the feet. Iron spikes are firmly secured to the toes of the boots, and by trailing either the left or right foot along the ground, as the occasion demands, the toboggan can be guided into any direction. But there is a disadvantage attached to this method of steering with the feet, as the speed is somewhat diminished. The rno&t expert tobogganers guide the machines by slightly transferring the position of the body from one side to another. When rounding a corner, for instance, one of the precautions is to throw the weight of the body so far as possible on to the rear of the toboggan. Most elaborate arrangements are observed to ensure correct timing, even to the tenth of a second, in connection with the chief races. Thin electric wires are stretched across the course, both at the starting and winning posts. These wires are so adjusted that when the toboggan comes into contact with the first of them the electric timing clock is set in motion, while the wire at the winning post is broken directly the toboggan strikes it, the electric current severed, and the clock stopped. Toboggan races are frequently held, and the visitors from the hotels assemble in large numbers to witness the competitions. The weather in the Alps during the winter, as a rule, is glorious, the sun shining brilliantly and warmly, while the air is crisp and bracing. The speed attained by the toboggans, in the hands of experts, is tremendous, some parts of the course Deing traversed at the rate of seventy miles an hour. Although the Cresta Run is about a mile in length, the whole distance is accomplished in seventy seconds, notwithstanding the facts that the run abounds, with sharp curves, difficult to negotiate, and that for a little distance the course takes an upward grade, which naturally retards the speed of the machine. Skating is freely indulged in by the Canadians, but in this case, as with the toboggan chutes, the sportsmen prefer to manufacture their own skating-rink. A favorite spot is the ground of the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association. In the summer cycling and other pastimes congenial to that period of the year are here in full swing, but in the winter the ground is flooded with water to the depsh of six inches, and a beautiful level stretch of ice is thus obtained. Tho rink is flooded with water every night to ensure

a perfectly new and smooth surface of ice for every morning. Large open-air masquerades are held on about four or five occasions during the season, when some two or three thousand skaters, arrayed in picturesque, fanciful, and grotesque costumes, may be seen flitting to and fro beneath the brilliancy shed from the fourteen electric and numerous calcium lights, the latter being employed for beautiful colour effects.