150 TROUBLES OP EXPLORER 



break asunder; with a mighty crash the unbalanced bergs fall over, churning 

 the water into foam with their plunge, and bears and foxes and all the other 

 arctic animals call and bark to one another as they awaken from their winter 

 sleep." 



A source of trouble to arctic travelers often are the characteristics of the 

 Eskimo dogs. These animals are the only ones that can be depended on to 

 draw the sledges, for no others could endure the cold and the lack of food 

 that accompanies travel in regions of solid ice. But no traveler, unless he 

 be as experienced as Dr. Cook, who used them exclusively after leaving his 

 ship, can manage the queer creatures. Some of their traits are interestingly 

 described by a writer on polar exploration, as follows: 



"When a dog team is harnessed up to a sledge, every dog does not pull 

 his hardest, and a suggestion from the whip is advisable. The dog, however, 

 is incHned to resent it, and at once bites his neighbor by way of protest. The 

 neighbor in turn bites his neighbor, who does the same, until the whole team 

 has received the sting arising from the first lash, and all the dogs are howling 

 and snapping and jumping over one another. The application of the whip 

 handle instead of the whip lash is then necessary, and when at length quiet is 

 restored, the driver has to set to work to unplait the harness, which has been 

 twisted and tied into a terrible tangle by the antics of the team. When, at 

 the expense of a great deal of patience and time, everything is ready for a 

 fresh start, the inexperienced driver is able to estimate the value of cracking 

 the whip over, instead of on, the back of a lazy dog. 



"Even then, however, it is not all plain sailing. The dogs possess a wis- 

 dom of their own, and they never act so well together as when they reach 

 a piece of particularly rough ice over which the sledge does not move easily. 

 Directly they find that they have to lean heavily against the collar to pull the 

 load forward, they with one accord turn around, sit down, and look at the 

 driver. If he is inexperienced, he lashes about him with his whip, and the 

 dogs fight and tangle the harness; if he knows his animals, he puts his shoulder 

 to the sledge, pushes it forward on to the toes of the team, whereupon each 

 one gets up, hurries out of the way of the threatening sledge runners, and 

 together pull it. easily over the rough place. 



"Another peculiarity of the dogs is their extraordinary appetite for leather. 

 Shark skin the Eskimo consider to be bad for them because of its excessive 

 roughness, but birds' skin, with the feathers on, are greatly relished by the 

 insatiable feeders, and, as has been said, leather is an especial luxury. The 



