DOG. 



815 



the same time web-footed, it is not easy to say ; and 

 therefore we strongly suspect that the origin of this 

 highly interesting breed must remain for ever doubtful. 

 ARCTIC DOGS. In all those places of the polar 

 countries, near the ice, which are not adapted for the 

 pasturage of the reindeer, the dog is the most valuable 

 domestic animal. These dogs have all a strong 

 family likeness ; and they all have the muzzle rather 

 elongated, the ears erect, the legs and loins very 

 strong, and are otherwise fitted for enduring great 

 fatigue. These dogs have been named after the 

 countries in which they are found the Siberian dog, 

 the Iceland dog, the Greenland dog, and the Esqui- 

 maux dog ; but the differences among them are not 

 greater than we find among dogs of the same nominal 

 variety in this country. In those dreary regions, 

 where winter prevails fully three-fourths of the year, 

 it would be impossible for the inhabitants to exist 

 were it not for these dogs ; and the faithful animals, 

 in performing their labours in drawing the sledges 

 over the snowy deserts, are often subjected to the 

 severest privations. Marco Polo, the celebrated 

 Venetian traveller of the thirteenth century, distinct!}' 

 speaks of a country in the north of Asia, difficult of 

 access on account of the intermediate mud and snow, 

 from which great quantities of furs were carried in 

 vehicles wanting wheels by means of dogs. The in- 

 formation he received on the subject characterises 

 the sledges of Greenland or Kamtschatka, now drawn 

 by these animals. In this latter country the species 

 employed is of a. middle size, of various colours, 

 white, black, grey, or black and white, of wolfish aspect, 

 yet not unlike the shepherd's dog or its mongrel off- 

 spring. Its luur is rough, its tail recurved, and the 

 ears pointed ; it cannot be taught to hunt, and never 

 barks, but howls. Though regularly trained to the 

 draught, the dog of {he Kamtschadaleand Greenlander 

 seems less tractable and domesticated than that of 

 civilised countries, proving perhaps how much its 

 nature is modified by associations with man. All 

 that are tljus occupied are castrated, to preserve them 

 more under controul. During the prevalence of ice 

 and snow, from five to ten of them are harnessed to 

 a light wicker-work sledge, about three feet long and 

 one in breadth. The driver is supported by a seat a 

 yard above the ground, and the whole frame rests on 

 two curved pieces of wood or sometimes whalebone, 

 which operate as skates in gliding over the frozen 

 snow. The total weight of the sledge does not ex- 

 ceed ten pounds, in which journeys incredibly long 

 are safely accomplished. The harness is made of 

 leather, the dogs are arranged in pairs, commonly 

 with a leather along the whole in front, and are fas- 

 tened together by straps or reins through their collars, 

 fixed by a hook and chain to a ring in the fore part 

 of the sledge. If the journey be difficult, or the bur- 

 den heavy, the number of dogs is increased ; and 

 when M. Lesseps brought the despatches of La Pe- 

 rouse over land from the harbour of Petrapowloski, 

 thirty-seven dogs were harnessed to his sledge, and 

 forty-five to that of the companion of his journey, the 

 Governor-general Kasloff. Thirty-five sledges were 

 in company, drawn by nearly 300 dogs. But jour- 

 neys of this description, though generally successful, 

 are not entirely void of danger. The traveller, whose 

 position is sidewise, and not directed forward, must 

 be careful to preserve the equilibrium of so slight a 

 vehicle ; if it inclines to the right, he must lean to 

 the left, and his posture must be changed when tho 



inclination is reversed. The utmost vigilance is ne- 

 cessary not to be overset, and if this accident should 

 occur he must hold vigorously by the sledge, as the 

 dogs once in motion run straight forward, and with 

 greater ardour on their burden being lightened. They 

 are scarce to be restrained on the open way, and on 

 descending deep declivities. Kraschenonikoff affirms 

 that they are liable to be unyoked from the violence 

 with which they rush down. They likewise become 

 unruly on scenting deer, or hearing dogs in the neigh- 

 bouring villages. Much of the security of the travel- 

 ler depends on the training of the leader, and the 

 whole are guided by the voice and a crooked stick, 

 without any whip. But the fatigue of long journeys 

 is so great, that the dogs frequently perish under it ; 

 food is scanty, and shelter rarely to be obtained. Of 

 the 300 dogs employed by M. Lessep's party, in 

 crossing the peninsula of Kamtschatka, only twenty- 

 seven at last remained ; many died of want and exer- 

 tion, the others, when tied up, ate the cords and 

 harness from hunger, and some devoured the carcases 

 of those that had perished. 



PASTORAL DOGS. Though these have not the 

 same strength as the dogs which are used for draught, 

 and are far from being the most handsomely formed 

 of their race, they are intelligent, tractable, faithful, 

 and highly useful in every situation where their ser- 

 vices are required. There are many breeds and 

 climatal varieties of them in different countries. In 

 Britain there are two principal ones; the one of them 

 a sheep dog, and the other more of a cattle dog ; but 

 as these dogs are kept very indiscriminately by the 

 country people in the less cultivated districts, there 

 are many mongrel breeds which want the more valu- 

 able qualities of the true one. In the case of both 

 too, there are two divisions, tending dogs and driving 

 dogs, which have been perhaps separated from each 

 other by the different labours in which they are em- 

 ployed. 



In the richer parts of the country, where the land 

 is divided into inclosures, the tending dogs are less 

 wanted ; but in the wild parts, where the land is 

 pastured in breadth, and where the labour of the 

 shepherd or the herdsman, in attending to all the in- 

 dividuals of the herd, would be intolerable or even 

 impossible, they are of the greatest value ; and neither 

 the proper care of the flock nor that of the herd could 

 be rightly managed without them. They are not so 

 much wanted in those places where sheep and cattle 

 are fattened, because there it is desirable that the 

 animals should be subjected to as little motion as 

 possible, in order that they may be fit for the table 

 in the shortest time possible. In the breeding dis- 

 tricts it is different. Proper exercise is necessary to 

 the full development of the animal, and to that sound- 

 ness of constitution, by means of which alone it can 

 be of the best quality when fattened ; and as the pas- 

 tures there are wide, the dogs are indispensable for 

 fetching in strays, and keeping the flock together. 



There is a peculiarity of structure in the feet of 

 these dogs which is worth attending to, as an instance 

 of how beautifully nature adapts every creature for 

 the office which it has to perform ; though this pecu- 

 liarity is not confined to these dogs, but belongs to 

 them" in common with the spaniel, the pointer, and 

 all dogs which have the habit of preying upon ground 

 game without running it down in the chase. This 

 peculiarity consists of a greater or smaller number of 

 supplemental toes or appendages at the posterior part 



