1779. THE PACIFIC OCEAN* 185 



I brought over with me one of these sledges, which 

 is now in the possession of Sir Ashton Lever. The 

 body is about four feet and a half long, and a foot 

 wide, made in the form of a crescent, of light tough 

 wood, strongly bound together with wicker work ; which 

 in those belonging to the better sort of people is ele- 

 gantly stained of a red and blue colour, and the seat 

 covered with bear-skins, or other furs. It is support- 

 ed by four legs about two feet high, which rest on 

 two long flat pieces of wood, five or six inches broad, 

 extending a foot at each end beyond the body of the 

 sledge. These are turned up before in the manner 

 of a skate, and shod with the bone of some sea ani- 

 mal. The fore-part of the carriage is ornamented 

 with thongs of leather and tassels of coloured cloth; 

 and from the cross bar, to which the harness is joined, 

 are hung links of iron, or small bells, the jingling of 

 which they conceive to be encouraging to the dogs. 

 They are seldom used to carry more than one person 

 at a time, who sits aside, resting his feet on the lower 

 part of the sledge, and carrying his provisions and 

 other necessaries, wrapped up in a bundle behind 

 him. The dogs are usually five in number, yoked 

 two and two, with a leader. The reins not being 

 fastened to the head of the dogs, but to the collar, 

 have little power over them, and are therefore gen- 

 erally hung upon the sledge, whilst the driver depends 

 entirely on their obedience to his voice for the di- 

 rection of them. With this view, the leader is always 

 trained up with a particular degree of care and atten- 

 tion, some of them rising to a most extraordinary 

 value on account of their docility and steadiness ; 

 insomuch, that for one of these, I am well assured, 

 forty roubles (or ten pounds) was no unusual price. 

 The driver is also provided with a crooked stick, 

 which answers the purpose both of whip and reins ; 

 as by striking it into the snow, he is enabled to 

 moderate the speed of the dogs, or even to stop them 

 entirely *, and when they are lazy, or otherwise inat? 



