702 THE DOG. 



countries ; and all of them have subdued the Wolf, and pro- 

 duced a race of Dogs, adapted to the chase, and to every 

 service required. 



The Dogs of these people have been often described by 

 travellers, and by none so well as by our own daring naviga- 

 tors in the Arctic Seas. They are muscular, and adapted to 

 speed as well as the dragging of loads. They have the body 

 covered with coarse shaggy hair, underneath which grows a 

 coat of delicate wool, which falls off in the season of heat, 

 to be renewed when the sun, about to sink beneath the hori- 

 zon, gives warning of the coming night of winter. The co- 

 lour of the fur is usually a tawny gray, but sometimes it is 

 as white as that of the Greenland Wolves. The dogs are 

 begun to be trained almost as soon as they can walk, and 

 when about two months old, are disciplined to the sledge. 

 They are each attached by a single trace without reins ; and 

 in the front, at a little distance from the others, is the leader, 

 who is chosen for his superior docility and experience. The 

 man sits on the fore part of the sledge, using his foot on 

 either side to steady it amongst blocks of ice, and ready to 

 spring off and vault again into his seat when any impediment 

 occurs. He holds in his hand a whip, with a short handle a 

 foot long, having a thong of hide from 18 to 24 feet. In 

 some cases he merely uses a crooked stick, which he throws 

 at an offending dog, recovering it again from the surface 

 with matchless dexterity. But, for the most part, the voice 

 alone suffices to direct the wild but willing team. Each dog 

 has his name, which, when uttered with a certain, tone of 

 voice, calls his attention to the orders given. The animals 

 turn to one or other side, and hasten or slacken their pace, 

 as directed. When they meet a sledge coming in the oppo- 

 site direction, they give it the right hand, as readily as the 

 waggoners of England do in the case of carriages, under the 

 penalties of Acts of Parliament. When the sledge is stop- 

 ped, and the whip laid gently over the backs of the dogs, 

 they lie down, and remain on the snow for hours, until the 



