SLEDGE DOGS 



over-feeding makes them savage. They are un- 

 pleasant brutes, handsome in their way, but un- 

 friendly and sly ; easily mastered by firmness, but 

 ready to take advantage of any weakness. I have 

 known an Eskimo child to be killed by the dogs, 

 because she met a pack of them when she was alone ; 

 and a poor woman who fell in a fit was pounced 

 upon and half devoured before help could arrive. 



I was always wary of the dogs, and was very 

 glad of those tough seal-hide knee-boots to protect 

 my legs when I stumbled among the sleeping brutes 

 that filled the porches of the huts. My plan was 

 to poke them to wide-awakeness with a stick, and 

 then, with a shout of " Hu-it " (a very expressive 

 sort of " Get out of the way ") march boldly through 

 them. One evening a man came to my room and 

 said, " Shall I shoot my dog ? " 



" Why ? " 



" Because it bit your boot ; and the people have 

 a rule that a dog which has bitten must be killed." 



As the dog had only tasted boot, with which 

 flavour it must have been well acquainted, I spared 

 it ; but if it had tasted me, nothing short of shooting 

 it would have satisfied the owner. 



It is a custom of the people : the dangerous dog 

 must die. 



Kristian was rather relieved when I acquitted 

 his dog. I had trodden on its tail in a dark porch, 

 and its snap at my boot was by way of a natural 

 response to stimulation. I explained all this to 

 Kristian. " Let the dog live," I said. 



Kristian gravely said, " Taimak (so let it be) : it 

 is my best dog." 



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