700 THE DOG. 



I. THE LYCISCAN GROUP.* 



Of the Lyciscan group of Dogs, those which inhabit the 

 Northern Glacial Regions may be generally regarded as the 

 least removed from the natural state. Within the limits of 

 the vast countries where these dogs are found, extending many 

 degrees on either side of the Arctic Circle, nearly all round the 

 globe, from the shores of Greenland westward, by Behring's 

 Straits, to Nova Zembla, and the western extremity of Lap- 

 land, are tribes of men having a wonderful similarity in ha- 

 bitudes and aspect. Those of the Western Hemisphere are 

 termed Esquimaux, though tribes of Copper-coloured In- 

 dians inhabit the same region ; those, of the wilds of Siberia 

 are Samo'iedes, Kamtschatkans, and others ; those of the 

 extreme north of Europe are Laplanders, who, living in a less 

 rigorous climate, have made greater advances towards a set- 

 tled state of life than the others. Within the limits of the 

 gloomy region inhabited by these tribes, the sun for a pe- 

 riod of the year never sets, and for another period is below 

 the horizon. At about the noon, as it maybe called, of their 

 long day, and into the brief space of eight weeks are crowd- 

 ed spring, summer, and autumn, during which a scorching 

 sun melts the snow, and calls forth a rapid vegetation, while 

 innumerable animals of the land and water rear their off- 

 spring; and myriads of insects fill the air, tormenting to 

 the inhabitants, but yet a bountiful provision to them, since 

 the larvaB of the insects, hatched in their lakes and rivers, 

 furnish food to innumerable fishes. The winter begins with 

 tempests and snow, and, for ten months of the year, the rigour 

 of the cold is intense. In certain parts, the inhabitants con- 

 struct their winter habitations of blocks of frozen snow, with 

 windows of ice, which admit the light of their winter twi- 



* So named from Lycisca, a term applied by the ancients to dogs supposed 

 to be derived from the union of the wolf and common dogs. The term Lycisca 

 was likewise applied to Shepherd's Dogs. 



