THE ESKIMO DOG. 105 



dogs are put into harness as soon as they can walk, and 

 being tied up, soon acquire a habit of pulling, in their attempts 

 to recover their liberty, or to roam in quest of their mother. 

 When about two months old, they are put into the sledge 

 with the grown dogs, and sometimes eight or ten little ones 

 are under the charge of some steady old animal, where, with 

 frequent and sometimes severe beatings, they soon receive a 

 competent education. Every dog is distinguished by a partic- 

 ular name, and the angry repetition of it has an effect as 

 instantaneous as an application of the whip, which instrument 

 is of an immense length, having a lash from eighteen to 

 twenty-four feet, while the handle is one foot only; with this, 

 by throwing it on one side or the other of the leader, and 

 repeating certain words, the animals are guided or stopped. 

 When the sledge is stopped they are all taught to lie down, 

 by throwing the whip gently over their backs, and they will 

 remain in this position even for hours, until their master 

 returns to them. A walrus is frequently drawn along by three 

 or four of these dogs, and seals are sometimes carried home 

 in the same manner, though I have in some instances seen 

 a dog bring home the greater part of a seal in panniers 

 placed across his back. Cold has very little effect on them ; 

 for although the dogs at the huts slept within the snow pas- 

 sages, mine at the ships had no shelter, but lay alongside, 

 with the thermometer at 42 and 44, and with as little 

 concern as if the weather had been mild. I found, by several 

 experiments, that three of my dogs could draw me on a 

 sledge, weighing one hundred pounds, at the rate of one mile 

 in six minutes ; and as a proof of the strength of a well-grown 

 dog, my leader drew one hundred and ninety-six pounds 

 singly, and to the same distance, in eight minutes. At another 

 time seven of my dogs ran a mile in four minutes, drawing 

 a heavy sledge full of men. Afterwards, in carrying stores 

 to the Fury, one mile distant, nine dogs drew one thousand 

 six hundred and eleven pounds in the space of nine minutes. 



