294 VALUABLE ANIMALS OF THE ARCTIC 



gether with his auto-solution of the food problem, render him the obvious, 

 simplest and practically only answer to the question of polar transportation. 



The Eskimos have used the dogs for transportation since the earliest days. 

 Martin Frobisher reports their use by the Eskimos in the sixteenth century. 

 The Russians made use of the dogs in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 

 in charting the coast of Siberia. Many dogs and few men has always been the 

 policy of Arctic explorers. 



Dr. Nansen owed the success of his expedition to his dogs. The hardships 

 of his memorable journey with Johansen would have been insurmountable 

 without his canine companions. The journey was severe upon the dogs, and 

 many of them had to be killed to provide food for their fellows. Dr. Nan- 

 sen says : 



"On Wednesday evening Haren was killed. Poor beast, he was not good 

 for much latterly. But he had been a first rate dog, and it was hard, I fancy, 

 for Johansen to part with him. He looked so sorrowfully at the animal before 

 it went to its happy hunting grounds or wherever it may be where good draught 

 dogs go to, perhaps to places where there are plains of level ice and no ridges 

 or lanes." 



Dr. Nansen's dogs were mostly ,of the white or white and black Samoyede 

 breed. With its pointed muzzle and sharply erect ears, its strong bushy tail 

 and short body, the dog is obviously of the Spitz type, but the wolf nature is 

 always more or less apparent and the white Arctic wolf undoubtedly contributed 

 largely to its origin. 



The Eskimo dog is larger and more nearly allied to the wolf. He is sturdy, 

 well boned, has a long, snipy muzzle and erect triangular ears. The eyes are set 

 obliquely like those of a wolf, and the jaw is formidable and full of strong, 

 white, pointed teeth. He has a strong, arched neck, a broad chest and mus- 

 cular quarters, and is apparently made for work, having an almost tireless 

 endurance. His tail is long and bushy and his coat is dense, hard and deep, 

 especially on the back, where it may be from two to four inches deep, with a 

 woolly undercoat, which resists the penetrating snow and cold. In color it is 

 the same as that of the wolf, black or rusty black, with lighter grayish mark- 

 ings on the chest and tail. Often there is a pure white dog. In all there are 

 the characteristic light spots over the eyes. 



The Eskimo dog does not habitually bark, but has a weird, wolfish howl, 

 and is thievish and destructive. He leaves the bones of a fish as clean as if 

 they had been scraped by a surgical instrument. Each team has its king, which 



