102 MY DOG-TEAMS. 



make some short journeys of exploration while the 

 scrap of twilight yet remains to me, and as soon as the 

 men were free I set them to work preparing some 

 conveniences for camping out. I have been ready for 

 several days, but the weather has been unfavorable for 

 any thing more than a few hours' absence ; and so our 

 life runs on smoothly into the night. 



I had to-day a most exhilarating ride, and - a very 

 satisfactory day's work. I drove up the Fiord in the 

 morning, and have returned only a short time since. 

 This Fiord lies directly north of the harbor, and it 

 forms the termination of Hartstene Bay. It is about 

 six miles deep by from two to four wide. Jensen was 

 my driver, and I have a superb turn-out, — twelve 

 dogs and a fine sledge. The animals are in most 

 excellent condition, — every one of them strong and 

 healthy ; and they are very fleet. They whirl my 

 Greenland sledge over the ice with a celerity not cal- 

 culated for weak nerves. I have actually ridden be- 

 hind them over six measured miles in twenty-eight 

 minutes ; and, without stopping to blow the team, 

 have returned over the track in thirty-three. Sonn- 

 tag and I had a race, and I beat him by four minutes. 

 I should like to have some of my friends of Saratoga 

 and Point Breeze up here, to show them a new style 

 of speeding animals. Our racers do not require any 

 blanketing after the heats, nor sponging either. We 

 harness them each with a single trace, and these traces 

 are of a length to suit the fancy of the driver — the 

 longer the better, for they are then not so easily tan- 

 gled, the draft of the outside dogs is more direct, and, 

 if the team comes upon thin ice, and breaks through, 

 your chances of escape from immersion are in propor- 

 tion to their distance from you. The traces are all of 



