5J6 SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



between his legs in running, whereas the 'dogs ahnost always carry their 

 tails handsomely curled over the back. A difference less distinguishable, 

 when the animals are apart, is the superior size and more muscular make of 

 the wild animal, especially about the breast and legs. The Molf is also, in 

 general, full two inches taller than any Esquimaux dog we have seen ; but 

 those met with in 1818, in the latitude of 7G°, appear to come nearest to it 

 in that respect. The tallest dog at Igloolik stood two feet one inch from 

 the ground, measured at the withers ; the average height was about two 

 inches less than this. 



Tiie colour of flie dogs varies from a white, through brindled, to black 

 and white, or almost entirely black. Some are also of a reddish or ferrugi- 

 nous colour, and others have a brownish-red tinge on their legs, the rest of 

 their bodies being of a darker colour, and these last were observed to be 

 generally the best dogs. Their hair in the winter is from three to four inches 

 long ; but besides this, nature furnishes them during this rigorous season, 

 with a thick under coating of close soft wool, which they begin to cast in 

 the spring. While thus provided, they are able to withstand the most incle- 

 ment weather without suffering from the cold, and at whatever temperature 

 the atmosphere may be they require nothing but a shelter from the wind to 

 make them comfortable, and even this they do not always obtain. They are 

 also wonderfully ena1)led to endure the cold even on those parts of the body 

 which arc not thus protected, for we have seen a young puppy sleeping, 

 with its bare paw laid on an ice-anchor, with the thermometer at — 30°, 

 which with one of our dogs would have produced immediate and intense 

 pain, if not subsequent mortification. They never bark, but have a long 

 melancholy howl like that of the wolf, and this they will sometimes jjcrform 

 in concert for a minute or two together. Tliey are besides always snarling 

 and fighting among one another, by which several of them are generally 

 lame. When much caressed and well-fed, they become quite familiar and 

 domestic ; but this mode of treatment does not improve their qualities as 

 animals of draught. Being desirous of ascertaining whether these dogs are 

 wolves in a state of domestication, a question which we understood to have 

 been the subject of some speculation, JNIr. Skeoch at my request made a ske- 

 leton of each, when the number of all the vertel)rae was found to be the same 

 in both*, and to correspond with the well-known anatomy of the wolf. 

 When drawing a sledge, the dogs have a simple harness {annoo) of deer or 



* Cer\-ical, 7; dorsal, 13; lumbar, 7; sacral, 3; caudal, 19. 



