200 THE OX FAMILY 



such an expedition to the far northern waters, there to 

 live on the ship, making excursions into the haunts of 

 the ox with Eskimos and a sled train, drawn by the 

 Eskimo dogs, which Mr. Whitney thinks are more 

 desirable than the animals he was able to procure when 

 he went in overland from the south. The Eskimos are 

 absolutely necessary as guides to find the game, keep 

 the sportsman from getting lost, and handle the dog 

 trains and the dogs when turned loose for the chase. 

 Although they command good wages and are supposed 

 to accompany the sportsman to aid him in getting a 

 shot at the ox, they are so fond of the chase and so 

 extremely excitable in the presence of game that as 

 soon as the dogs are loosened from the sleds they rush 

 off with them in pursuit of the animals at a gait which 

 usually leaves the sportsman far behind. Such con- 

 duct, or, rather, the sportsman's reflections upon it (as 

 he runs along a few miles in the rear, hoping to keep 

 in sight of his servants), should prove to be warming. 

 Mr, Whitney says he perspired freely from the running, 

 but the reader can well imagine there must be some 

 unusually exciting thoughts about the hired hands 

 running far ahead and determined to kill the bulls and 

 the cows without stopping to ask their employer (who 

 goes stumbling along over the rocky ridges, but thinly 

 covered with snow, and falling often) if he would like 

 to see the performance. 



Frederick Schwatka advises the holding on to the 

 dog-harness so that the excited animals can drag the 

 sportsman along up and down the ridges at a furious 

 pace, which no Indian could expect to excel, but 

 Whitney says such travelling, on the rocky ridges 



