THE ESKIMO DOG 217 



cially disposed to attack their victuals with voracity. 

 Nowhere in the world are there more audacious pil- 

 lagers : so extreme are the pangs of hunger that no 

 punishment avails to prevent their snapping up any 

 morsel unguardedly left within their reach. " 



"Not the most docile sort of companion, I should 

 say," Jules remarked. 



"The women, who treat them more gently, feed 

 them, and take care of them when they are little, 

 can easily make them obey. Nearly always, even 

 when these poor animals suffer most cruelly from 

 hunger, the women succeed in getting them together 

 to be harnessed to the sled." 



"I should like, Uncle," put in Emile, "before 

 hearing the rest, to know just what an Eskimo sled 

 is. I can't imagine exactly what it is like." 



"The sled, as its name indicates, is a kind of light 

 vehicle without wheels, designed for dragging over 

 the ice or snow where sliding is easy. The Eskimo 

 sled is rudely built. Imagine two strips of wood 

 curving upward at each end and placed side by side 

 at a certain distance from each other. They are the 

 chief pieces, which are to support all the rest and 

 themselves glide on the snow. Between the two is 

 constructed a framework of light transverse bars, 

 and on this framework rises a sort of niche lined 

 with furs, where the traveler squ'ats. That is the 

 Eskimo sled. 



"The two chief pieces, resembling long skates 

 gliding over the hard snow, I said were of wood; 

 but I hasten to add that generally they are made of 



