

ON DOGS AND DIFFICULTIES 145 



into the tenderly-nurtured kitchen garden of the 

 Brethren. The dogs rased the cabbages to the ground, 

 and even carried away with them the few highly-* 

 prized wurzels. 



Modesty is a virtue of which the Eskimo dog 

 is seldom guilty. I was visiting one day a bed- 

 ridden patient. As the outer door opened, a fragrant 

 scent as of a dinner preparing was wafted outward. 

 Suddenly an avalanche swept me off my legs, and a 

 pack of dogs, whisking the stew-pot off the fire, began 

 to fight savagely over its contents, the more so as 

 each, having burnt its nose in the boiling liquid, 

 attributed his affliction to his neighbour. Mean- 

 while the house filling with steam and Eskimo impre- 

 cations, the latter rendered forcible by long harpoon 

 handles, made me almost sorry I had called. 



An Eskimo's financial condition may be gauged by 

 the number of his dogs, and no one with less than 

 six would rank as " carriage folk." Eight to thirteen 

 normally form a team, each being harnessed, by a 

 single walrus-hide trace of a different length, to the 

 komatik. The leader will be some twenty-six yards 

 away, which enables the team to clamber over or 

 round hummocky ice. The driver on these occasions 

 jumps off to help the sleigh over, while, to prevent 

 breaking, the komatik is made of numbers of short 

 wide cross boards lashed by strong tendons across 

 two longitudinal pieces, no nails being used. The 

 runners are shod with ribs of whale, with iron, or 

 with mud. A slot is made in the snow and filled 



