156 SLED-DOGS OF THE NORTH TRAILS 



afraid that is true, and I cannot revoke even 

 such sweeping judgment, but what I like about 

 the dogs in the Far North is that they have the 

 grace to acknowledge themselves rascals, for they 

 stand aloof from mankind, half- wild, half- afraid, 

 making no overtures or pretences of friendship 

 — and they steal whenever they can. On the 

 other hand, poor-caste mongrels of the Frontier 

 may sidle up to you in friendly fashion, and you, 

 in good humour, may treat them kindly — then 

 turn your back, and they sneak into your tent 

 and plunder whatever is at hand. This sort of 

 thing can be very annoying, and "the only thing 

 to do is to steel one's feelings against all and 

 treat them as rogues — every one. 



I will leave now the sled-dogs of the Frontier 

 and deal entirely with the more pure, more 

 attractive types of those that are common to the 

 borders of the Arctic. Perhaps some of the 

 finest dogs I have seen were at Fort Du Brochet, 

 at the north end of Reindeer Lake, where the 

 Hudson Bay Company have stretched a tendril 

 through inland wilderness almost to the line of 

 the Eskimo country, and there established a 

 Trading Post for Chipewyan Indians and those 

 said Eskimos, so that they be induced to bring out 

 the fur of a large inland area of the Barren-grounds 

 and lay it on the rude barter counter of the Fur 

 Traders' Store and purchase in exchange such 

 luxuries as flour, and tobacco, and tea, and 

 ammunition, and beads, and coloured cloths, 

 and all such sort of things as are eagerly sought 

 by simple, primitive natives. Once a year a 

 small band of Eskimos travel south with fur- 



