ALLEN:. DOGS OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 4(i^> 



Society of London. Bernard R. Ross (1S61) seems to have confusecf 

 the two as well; for a skull collected by him at Fort Simpson and sent 

 to the U. S. N. M. as ''Cam's laqopus'" is even larger than the one 

 from Peel River and almost undoubtedly a cross with an Eskimo 

 Dog. Both skulls lack the first lower premolar. 



In the North the Common Indian Dog is largely used among the 

 forest Indians as a l)east of burden. 



Samuel Hearne, on his famous journey to Peel Ri^'er, 1769-72, 

 observed that the Indians' " kettles, and some other lumber, are 

 always carried by dogs, which are trained to that ser\ice, and are 

 very docile and tractable. * *. * These dogs are equally willing to haul 

 in a sledge, but as few of the men will be at the trouble of making 

 sledges for them, the poor women are obliged to content themselves 

 with lessening the bulk of their load, more than the weight, by making 

 the dogs carr^• these articles onh-, which are alwa\s lashed on their 

 backs, much after the same manner as packs are, or used formerly to 

 be, on pack-horses." 



Klam.\th-Indian Dog. 



Characters. — A medium-sized dog, with a .short, bushy tail. 



Distribution. — So far as known, this peculiar breed was found only 

 among the Indians in the Klamath River region of Oregon. 



Remarks. — The only mention of this dog that I have found is the 

 following by Gibbs (Suckley and Gibbs, 18(30, p. 112): 



"On the Klamath is a dog of good size, with a siiort tail. This is 

 not more than six or seven inches long, and is bushy, or rather broad, 

 it being as wide as a man's hand. I was assured they were not cut, 

 and I never noticed longer tails on the pups. They have the usual 

 erect ears and sharp muzzle of Indian dogs, but are (what is unusual 

 with Indian dogs) often brindled gray.'" 



Presumably the shortened tail arose as an independent \ariation 

 among dogs of the Plains-Indian Dog type and was preserved among 

 these dogs through selective breeding. Similar short-tailed breeds 

 are well known among European dogs, as in the English Sheep-dog, 

 and certain varieties of Bull-terriers. ^lacFarlane (1905, p. 096) 

 gives an accovmt of a very much prized Eskimo Dog he owned in the 

 ^Mackenzie District, that was born tailless and undersized, but pro\ed 

 an excellent sled-dog. 



