472 THE BOOK OF THE DOG. 



chastises them by throwing it at them. The dexterity of the drivers in picking this stick 

 up again is very remarkable, and is the most difficult manoeuvre in the exercise of their 

 profession. 



" The Greenlanders, though they derive such manifest advantages from the strength and 

 activity of their dogs, are by no means kinder masters than the Kamtschatkans ; they leave 

 their dogs to provide for themselves upon mussels, berries, and whatever food they can pick 

 up, unless after a large capture of seals, when they treat them with the blood and garbage. 

 These people sometimes eat their dogs, and feed them for that purpose ; they have their skins 

 also for coverlets and for clothing, as well as to border and seam their habits ; and from the 

 intestines of the animals their finest thread is made. The Greenlanders fasten to their sledges 

 from four to ten dogs, and they will with this carriage get over the ice, laden with their masters 

 and five or six heavy seals, fifteen German or sixty English miles a day. Five of these dogs, 

 that had escaped with their trappings, were found in Greenland, and brought to this country 

 a few years since by one of our ships employed in the fishery. Of their expedition Captain 

 King relates that a courier with despatches, drawn by them, performed a journey of 270 miles 

 in four days ; their fidelity, however, is not highly praised, and not seldom do they plague 

 their masters with their malignant stratagems. The sledges are usually drawn by five dogs 

 (though more are occasionally added when circumstances require it), and will readily carry 

 three persons, with their baggage, fifty, or even sixty English miles a day. When the vehicle 

 is drawn by five dogs, four of them are yoked two and two abreast ; the odd one, who is 

 placed before, acts as a leader, the reins being fastened to a collar round his neck, but which 

 is of trifling service in their direction, as (before observed) the driver depending chiefly upon 

 their obedience to his voice, by which alone, with the assisting flourish of his stick, he animates 

 them to proceed. We are informed, by different writers upon this subject, that some nations, 

 remote from the more polished and enlightened parts of the world, approve the canine species 

 as food, and esteem a fat dog a proportional delicacy." 



Twenty years later John Scott enlarges somewhat upon the views of Taplin, and adds to 

 the halo of romance which enshrouded the Esquimaux dog by giving some curious views 

 concerning his possible origin. We need hardly say that we do not go very far with him in 

 his theories, or that the idea of the Pug cross is, in our opinion, simply ridiculous when 

 seriously considered. However, it is only fair to let the author of the " Sportsman's Reposi- 

 tory " give his views in his own words, which are 



" The Arctic or Greenland dog appears to be the indigenous wild dog of the hyperborean 

 regions, unchanged with respect to his breed by human art, and abandoned during a part 

 of the year to his native liberty. His upright ears, sharp muzzle, and shaggy coat, seem to 

 denote a wolfish origin, whilst in his compact form, short quarter, and curled tail, he resembles 

 the Dutch Pug. The origin of the breed may, with probability, be referred to a conjunction 

 between the wolf, water-dog, and the native northern Pug." 



Youatt, in his work, gives the following quotation from Captain Parry, the famous Arctic 

 explorer, concerning the duties of these dogs. " A number of dogs, varying from six to twelve 

 are attached to each sledge by means of a single trace, but with no reins. An old and tried 

 dog is placed as the leader, who, in their simple journeys, and when the chase is the object, 

 steadily obeys the voice of the driver sitting in the front of the sledge, with a whip long 



