ANECDOTES ABOUT DOGS 339 



their training or sagacity, the least effective being put 

 nearest the sledge. 



" The leader is, usually, from eighteen to twenty 

 feet from the fore part of the sledge and the hindmost 

 dog about half that distance, so that, when ten or twelve 

 are running together several are nearly abreast of each 

 other. 



" The driver sits quite low on the front part of the 

 sledge, with his feet overhanging the snow on one side, 

 and having in his hand a whip, of which the handle is 

 plaited a little way down to stiffen it, and give it a 

 spring, on which much of its use depends, and that 

 which composes the lash is chewed by the women to 

 make it flexible in frosty weather. 



" The men acquire, from their youth, consider- 

 able expertness in the use of this whip. The lash 

 is left to trail along the ground by the side of the 

 sledge, and with it they can inflict a very severe blow 

 upon any one of the dogs at pleasure. 



" Though the dogs are kept in training solely 

 and entirely by the fear of the whip, and, indeed 

 without it would soon have their own way, its 

 immediate effect is always detrimental to the draught 

 of the sledge, for not only does the individual 

 that is struck draw back and slacken his pace, but 

 generally turns upon his next neighbour, and this 

 passing on to the next ' occasions a general diver- 

 gency, accompanied by the usual yelping and showing 

 of teeth. The dogs then come together again by de- 

 grees, and the pace of the sledge is quickened; but even 

 at the best of times, by this rude mode of draught, (and 



