THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



45 



domesticate him the wolf follows and loves you like a dor. 

 That they are fond of a loose foot proves nothing. " Many of 

 our pack," says Kane, " will run away for weeks into the wilder- 

 ness of ice ; yet they cannot be persuaded when they come back 

 to inhabit the kennel we have built for them only a hundred 

 yards off. They crouch around for the companionship of man." 

 Both animals howl alike, and their footprints are very similar, 

 while there are well-authenticated instances of their inter- 

 breeding. The dog is to the Esquimaux what the horse is to us, 



ESQUIMAU DOGS. 



if not, indeed, a more valuable friend; yet these faithful crea- 

 tures are subjected to a treatment unreasonably c'jel. The 

 poor dogs are driven hundreds of miles on a pitiful allowance 

 of frozen food, and when they return to camp their hunge r 

 is so great that they attack and devour almost anything 

 that can be bolted, when they are beaten off with dreadful 

 blows of ax or hatchet. Capt. Hall mentions a fact as not 

 uncommon, of the Esquimaux brutally whipping their dogs just 

 before starting on a journey, merely to excite and " warm them 



