78 NEW LAND. 



as this its character : without them, we should get nowhere ; 

 without them, the time would be dull indeed. They are quite 

 capable of keeping one very much alive, and of providing plenty 

 of music, into the bargain. By day they were chained to a long 

 cable down the ice, and at night went, six and six, into their ice- 

 kennels under the ship's side ; but, both night and day, they kept 

 up an infernal commotion with their barking and howling, maraud- 

 ing and stealing, fighting and killing, all according as opportunity 

 offered. If by hook or by crook they could manage to get loose 

 from their chain, or their kennel, off they would go like a flash 

 of lightning, either to the Meat-heap, to gnaw at whatever remains 

 were there, or to an old walrus-carcase, which they had scented out 

 in the neighbourhood of the ship, and which, by degrees, they quite 

 hollowed out, so that it sounded like an empty barrel when we 

 hit the skin with our ' ski '-sticks. Better scavengers one could not 

 desire. They threw themselves on to, and devoured, everything 

 that was thrown over the ship's side, whether it was food or refuse. 

 Their food consisted of biscuit, stock-fish, and walrus-meat alter- 

 nately ; their drink was snow. They were very warm and com- 

 fortable in their kennels of ice, and the only thing to be careful 

 about was to see that they had a ventilating-hole and pipe through 

 the roof, to prevent them from becoming too warm, and, conse- 

 quently, moist from sweat, which would have killed them at once. 

 They stand the cold in the most astonishing manner, and, for that 

 matter, might well have been out-of-doors both night and day; 

 but, in such a case, their provisions would have been more drawn 

 on, as we should have had to feed them better. 



Each man has his own team, which he feeds, thrashes, and 

 defends from the others. He looks after them when they are ill, 

 and receives, in return, their entire and absolute devotion. But 

 to eradicate the wild animal in them is altogether beyond human 

 power. Onslaught and murder were frequent occurrences, and 

 followed on each other so rapidly that it was generally impossible 

 to prevent a catastrophe. One of the Norwegian elk-dogs, ' Fin,' 

 a stubborn and pugnacious animal, was one day thus attacked by 

 a team of the Eskimo dogs, and, in the course of two or three 

 minutes, torn to pieces and eaten. When we arrived on the scene, 



