snowslip (snoslip)

A snow-slide. snow-snake (sno'snāk), n. Among North American Indians, a slender shaft from 5 to 9 feet long, with a head curving up at one end and a notch at the other and smaller end; also, the game played with this shaft. The game is simply one of dexterity and strength. The forefinger is placed in the basal notch, the thumb and remaining fingers reaching along the shaft, and the snow snake is thrown forward on the ice or hard snow.. When the slender shaft is thrown, it glides rapidly over the surface, with upraised head and a quivering motion, that gives it a strange resemblance to a living creature. The game is to see which person or side can throw it farthest, and sometimes the distance of a quarter of a mile is reached under favorable circumstances, but I think this rare. W. M. Beauchamp , Science, XL. 37.