290 NEW LAND. 



not very serious, nor very contagious. I think that most of 

 them come from want of care ; for instance, from a dirty condition 

 of the animals themselves. It frequently happens that the dogs 

 get their coats smeared with blubber, and the hair then becomes 

 matted together, with the result that often large sores from frost- 

 bite appear on the unprotected places. These sores are often 

 confounded with skin-diseases. 



I have wintered with the ' Fram ' in the polar regions for seven 

 years, and during all that time have had a great number of dogs 

 under my supervision, and it would be remarkable indeed, if this 

 sickness is ' unavoidable,' or if the dogs will not stand the darkness, 

 that I should not have noticed something of it. Certainly, I have 

 seen puppies attacked by sickness, but it was not contagious ; 

 and I am quite sure that it resulted from want of care. The cases 

 in point were merely pups which had been born at an unfavour- 

 able time of the year, so that it was impossible to keep them clean 

 and dry. They were always wet, were frost-bitten, and on the 

 whole suffered a good deal of hardship, which no dog can endure 

 for any length of time, and still less a young one. 



The chief thing, therefore, is to look well after the dogs, and 

 give them good and sufficient food. If this be done, I do not 

 think any polar traveller need fear disease among his dogs, 

 provided, of course, that they do not bring infection with them 

 from home ; but, if this were the case, it would show itself within 

 the course of the first year, and if it did not, one might feel quite 

 at ease on the matter. 



The dogs play such an important part in a polar expedition, 

 such as mine, that one ought above all things to have one's 

 attention particularly directed to them, and to see that they are 

 kept as well as is possible in every respect. If this be not done 

 one will not get any work out of them, no matter how good the 

 dogs may have been to start with. On the other hand, if the 

 dogs are well cared for, and well broken-in, a good deal of work 

 can always be got out of them, even if they are not all first- 

 rate dogs. 



