NORTHERN DOGS 363 



his education. Four Esquimaux will draw 3oolb. to 4oolb. a 

 distance of thirty miles or more a day on a good track, although 

 a team frequently consists of as many as twelve dogs. The team 

 is guided solely by the use of the whip, which has a lash of 

 several yards long and a handle of about i8in. Considerable 

 proficiency in the use of the whip must be acquired before attempt- 

 ing a journey, otherwise disastrous consequences are likely to result. 

 The driver must be able to hit any one dog in the team, which, 

 as may be supposed, requires considerable practice, and then 

 recover the lash without its getting entangled among the dogs and 

 their traces ; this it is very apt to do. These dogs have been 

 known to travel a hundred miles a day without showing undue 

 fatigue. Their food consists of frozen fish, but they are by no 

 means particular, and will devour almost anything that comes in 

 their way. In addition to being hardly worked and half starved, 

 they are too frequently cruelly treated by their owners, it being 

 no uncommon occurrence for them to be beaten about the head 

 with a hammer or any article at hand until they are actually stunned. 



In an interesting account of some of the superstitions respecting 

 the dog given by the Rev. J. Gardner, he says that, according to 

 Arctic navigators, the dog is looked upon by the Esquimaux as the 

 father of the human family. He further mentions a strange notion 

 prevailing among the Greenlanders that an eclipse is caused by 

 the sun being pursued by his brother the moon. Accordingly, 

 when the phenomenon takes place, the women take the dogs by 

 the ears, believing that as these animals existed before man was 

 created, they must have a more certain presentiment of the future 

 than he has, and therefore if they do not cry when their ears are 

 pulled, it is an infallible sign that the world is about to be destroyed. 

 The Esquimaux dog in its natural state does not bark, but utters 

 a howl much resembling the wolf. Dogs bred and reared in this 

 country in some cases acquire this characteristic of civilisation. 



The following are the points which should be aimed at by any 

 one attempting to breed these dogs. The head should be as wolf- 

 like as possible, with the same pointed muzzle and, more or less, 

 the oblique eye, which gives the dog a treacherous appearance ; 

 ears small, rounded, erect, and pointed forward ; neck short, thick, 

 and chest deep ; body long ; legs well made, without feather ; feet 

 round ; tail very bushy, and carried curled over the back. The 

 coat is peculiar, being dense and thick and standing out from the 

 body, and is stiff on the outside like bristles, especially so along 

 the back, whilst the undercoat is a soft wool much resembling 

 down, and admirably adapted to keep out the cold and wet. The 

 colour varies considerably, sometimes being pure white, sometimes 

 a silvery grey, as well as black and other colours. The average 

 height is 22in. to 24in., those that are reared where fish is plentiful 



