“s 
SUMMER AND WINTER TRAVELLING. 213 
pool. Such idlers get constantly in rear of their 
comrades; the sharp crack of the Indian’s whip re- 
calling the truants to a sense of their indiscretion, 
they gallop with all their might to overtake the 
train; an undue haste, the usual result of which 
is to scatter the load along the trail. Then the 
culprits get a real taste of the thong, and are re- 
packed. Every now and then they have a row, 
and, reckless of loads, roll one over the other, a 
very heap of dogs, all seeming to have an indivi- 
dual interest in the quarrel of any two. Sticks, 
whips, and kicks quell the riot; the packs again 
adjusted, on they trot. 
In winter, when a trackless expanse of dazzling 
white extends in every direction from sky-lme 
to sky-line, it is quite a picturesque sight and 
pleasant to witness a travelling party of Crees. 
The dogs, now harnessed to light sleighs (some of 
them made with runners, others simply a flat 
piece of board turned up at each end), jog after 
the men, who, shod with snow-shoes, stride along 
on the snow, as if it was hard ground ; crossing 
lakes and rivers on the ice, impassable at other 
periods of the year. Each dog has usually a 
little string of bells round its neck, and as the 
bells are of different tones, the jingling music 
ringing clearly and sharply through the frosty 
