158 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA, chap. xxx. 



late coasts, merrily draw tlieir masters from house to 

 house, and with their wonderful noses pick out the right 

 path even in the most pitiless storm. If the traveller 

 will only trust to the sagacity of an experienced leader, 

 he may wi^ap himself up in his bear- and seal-skin robes, 

 and, regardless of piercing winds and blinding snow-drifts, 

 these sagacious and faithful animals will draw him securely 

 to his own door or to the nearest house. The commetique 

 is about thirty inches broad and ten or twelve feet long ; 

 it is formed of two longitudinal runners, fastened together 

 by means of transverse bars let into the runners and 

 strengthened with strips of copper. The runners are 

 shod with whalebone, which, by friction over the snow, 

 soon becomes beautifully polished, and look like ivory. 

 The commetique is well floored with seal-skins, over 

 which bear- or seal-skins are nailed all round, with an 

 opening for the traveller to introduce his body. The 

 harness is made of seal-skin ; the foremost dog, called 

 the guide, is placed about thirty feet in advance, the 

 others are ranged in pairs behind the guide ; some- 

 times three, sometimes four, pairs of dogs are thus 

 attached to one commetique besides the guide. 



The Esquimaux dog of pure breed, with his strong- 

 built frame, long white fur, pointed ears, and bushy tail, 

 is capable of enduring hunger to a far greater extent 

 than the mixed breed. But the mixed breed beat him 

 in long journeys if they are fed but once a day. An 

 Esquimaux dog will travel for two days without food ; 

 one of the mixed breed must be fed at the close of the 

 first day, or he can do little the next. These powerful, 

 quarrelsome, and even savage animals are kept under 



