THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 181 



six is plain. There is the trouble of harnessing three more in the 

 morning and of unharnessing, tying and feeding them in the evening. 

 True, a bigger dog needs a little more food, but six dogs weighing 

 120 pounds each will do well on less food than is necessary for 

 nine dogs averaging 70 pounds. Incidentally I will point out here 

 that much dissatisfaction with big dogs when used among smaller 

 dogs rises from the fact that they are given a standard ration, each 

 one getting a pound or a pound and a quarter of food. If this 

 goes on for days or weeks, eventuall}^ the seventy-pound dog will 

 be in full strength when the bigger dog has become weak from star- 

 vation. Any intelligent white man can see why a big dog needs 

 more food than a small one and can appreciate how he is going 

 to get full value for the extra food. But every Eskimo with whom 

 I have discussed the matter says that just as small men eat as 

 much as big men, so small dogs should have as much food as big 

 dogs, and Eskimo opinion is almost universally against the big dog, 

 since he will not keep fat on a ration that suffices a small one. An- 

 other great advantage of the big dog is that when after several 

 months on sea ice we eventually land on some island, we have to 

 cache our sleds and continue with pack dogs. Here I have found 

 that size is of special importance. Not only will the bigger dog 

 carry a heavier load, but he carries it higher above the ground. 

 A small dog will drag his pack through water when a bigger dog 

 carries it high and dry. 



Our big dogs have not been of any one breed. Some have been 

 half Eskimo and half St. Bernard; others have been half mastiff, 

 and some appear to have a considerable admixture of wolf. Just 

 as with men, the excellence of dogs is largely a matter of tempera- 

 ment. Here, next to his size, lies our grievance against the Eskimo 

 dog. When he is fat and well cared for he works with a great deal 

 of spirit, a sort of boyish exuberance. But as the boy has not the 

 stamina of the man and wants to rest when he gets tired, so the 

 Eskimo dog stops pulling when he feels like it. The white man's 

 dog, in many cases at least, has character, or what corresponds to 

 it. He seems to have a sense of duty, and especially if he is well 

 treated will continue working hard though his stomach be empty 

 and his legs tired. When the Eskimo dog is tired you will have 

 to resort to the whip. This to me is always disagreeable. It is 

 also my experience that you can no more get the best work out of 

 a dog team by whipping them than a slave owner could get the 

 best service out of enslaved men by inhumane treatment. I have 

 seldom seen an Eskimo dog that will pull well the second day with- 



