SLEDGES AND DOGS 



and the unwilling puppy is compelled to make a 

 trial of harness. 



If there is a little sledge to be had, so much the 

 better; the boy can sit upon it and enjoy all the 

 delights of real travelling ; if he has no sledge, he 

 harnesses the pup to a block of ice, which does very 

 well for a makeshift. These boys are wonderfully 

 keen teachers ; they have all the thoroughness of 

 the trained Eskimo hunter ; and only one who has 

 tried to drive a team of Eskimo dogs can know what 

 a stock of patience and perseverance the child must 

 have to teach the puppy to keep its trace tight and 

 to know and obey the words of command. Most of 

 the boys are wise enough to train one puppy at a time ; 

 but I once saw a big hulking lad trying to teach 

 a team of three, and naturally enough the three were 

 hardly ever all on their legs at the same time. 

 While one lay down to whine and whistle the others 

 would wander off in opposite directions to the extent 

 of their traces, and, finding themselves fast, they too 

 would lie down and whistle just as the boy had per- 

 suaded the other to move on. The experiment was 

 not a success, for after a time the lad got angry, and 

 there seemed to be more temper than teaching in the 

 thrashing he gave those poor pups. Of course every 

 I boy's ambition is to drive full-grown dogs, but when 

 i that day comes his playtime is over, for he must be 

 I off with the sledge to fetch firewood or seals. For 

 i sheer merriment there is nothing to beat the sledge- 

 game without dogs, when six or seven of the boys 

 I slip the harness on their own shoulders and race away 

 1 with the sledge, wheeling this way and that at the 

 i command of their driver. They enter most heartily 



into the fun, crossing from one place to another in 



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