164 THE ARCTIC PRAIRIES 



dogs at each, and 25 each at the mission and H. B. Co. 

 In a short walk, about 200 yards, I passed 86 dogs. 



"There is not an hour or ten minutes of day or night 

 that is not made hideous with a dog-fight or chorus of 

 yelps. There are about six different clans of dogs, 

 divided as their owners are, and a Dogrib dog entering 

 the Yellow-knife or Chipewyan part of the camp is 

 immediately set upon by all the residents. Now the 

 clansmen of the one in trouble rush to the rescue and 

 there is a battle. Indians of both sides join in with 

 clubs to belabour the fighters, and the yowling and 

 yelping of those discomfited is painful to hear for long 

 after the fight is over. It was a battle like this, I have 

 been told, which caused the original split of the tribe, 

 one part of which went south to become the Apaches 

 of Arizona. The scenes go on all day and all night in 

 different forms. A number of dogs are being broken 

 in by being tied up to stakes. These keep up a heart- 

 rending and peculiar crying, beginning with a short 

 bark which melts into a yowl and dies away in a nerve- 

 racking wail. This ceases not day or night, and half 

 a dozen of these prisoners are within a stone's throw 

 of our camp. 



"The favourite place for the clan fights seems to be 

 among the guy-ropes of our tent ; at least half a dozen 

 of these general engagements take place every night 

 while we try to sleep. 



"Everything must be put on the high racks eight feet 

 up to be safe from them; even empty tins are carried 

 off, boots, hats, soap, etc., are esteemed most toothsome 

 morsels, and what they can neither eat, carry off, nor 



