THE POLAR DOG AND ITS AILMENTS. 289 



We did not, as a rule, remove the blabber from the walrus- 

 skins, but chopped up skin and blubber together into lumps. We 

 then scored through the skin in dice, as it was so thick and tough 

 that the dogs could not easily bite it. In this manner it was the 

 blubber alone which kept the strips intact. 



I must confess that I do not greatly believe in the sickness of 

 which so much has been said by many polar travellers; nor do 

 I believe that the dogs cannot stand the winter darkness. In my 

 opinion it is cold and insufficient nourishment which are the 

 cause that they so often die during the winter. If they are 

 always out of doors, without any protection against wind and 

 weather, and especially if they are tied up all through the winter, 

 I do not think it possible to keep them all alive, no matter how 

 well they may be fed. I, for my part, have never experienced 

 that the dogs suffered from the cold and darkness if only they had 

 kennels, and wholesome and sufficient food : in other words, were 

 well looked after. In fact, I have always found them in full 

 vigour, even at the darkest period of the year. 



On the other hand, I have often had reason to notice that if 

 the man who was in charge of the dogs did not prevent the 

 stronger ones from eating up all the food, one or two of the team 

 would in all probability become so weak that they were likely to 

 die. But if they were taken on board for a little time and well 

 fed, they very soon recovered their strength. 



The old theory is that the dogs ought to be fed two or three 

 times a week. When one sees that expeditions have faithfully 

 followed this theory, or have even improved upon it to the extent 

 of feeding their dogs only once a week, and that nearly the whole 

 pack has died in the course of the winter, I do not think one need 

 go so far to seek the reason for it as to some kind of contagious 

 disease. It lies very much nearer home. 



My experiences are borne out by the fact that, as a rule, 

 sickness among the Eskimo dogs only occurs when the catches are 

 poor, and the usual symptoms of the malady weakness, going 

 over to a kind of madness point to the same conclusion. 



One must, of course, distinguish between the different kinds of 

 dog-sickness which occur in these regions; but these kinds are 

 VOL. i. u 



