34 VALUE OF DOGS. 



crawl about ; but, when I sent ashore to him the cov- 

 eted treasure, he found strength to break the head out 

 of the cask, to feast his eyes on the long-expected 

 gratuity. His sons, each wdth a brood of Esquimaux 

 visaged, though flaxen-haired children, crowded around 

 the present. My diary records that they were the 

 best hunters in the settlement, and that they had the 

 best teams of dogs ; and it also mentions, with a little 

 chagrin, that they would not sell one of them. I at- 

 tributed this obstinacy, at the time, to their cross old 

 paternal relative ; but there were better reasons than 

 this. They knew by bitter- experience the risks of 

 going into the long winter without an ample supply 

 of dogs to carry them over the ice upon the seal hunt, 

 and to part with their animals was to risk starvation. 

 I offered to give them pork and beef and canned 

 meats, and flour and beans; but they preferred the 

 seal and the excitement of the hunt, and refused to 

 trade. 



At last the couriers had all come in, bringing un- 

 welcome news. A half-dozen old dogs and a less num 

 ber of good ones were all that I had to console myself 

 for the delay ; but the Chief Trader had returned to 

 Upernavik, from which place I had received more en 

 couraging accounts than from the lower stations. 



