128 NATURAL HISTORY. 



the Hare Indian Dogs for the purpose of devouring them ; but the latter far outstripped them in 

 speed, and easily made their escape. A young puppy, which I purchased from the Hare Indians, 

 became greatly attached to me, and when about seven months old ran on the snow by the side of my 

 sledge for nine hundred miles without suffering from fatigue. During this march, it frequently, of its 

 own accord, carried a small twig, or one of my mittens, for a mile or two ; but, although very gentle 

 in its manners, it showed little aptitude in learning any of the arts which the Newfoundland Dogs so 

 speedily acquire, of fetching and carrying when ordered. This Dog was killed and eaten by an Indian 

 on the Saskatchewan, who pretended that he mistook it for a Fox." * 



THE ESKIMO DOG. 



The importance of this half-tamed variety (see figure on p. 105) to the cold stunted beings who keep 

 it can hardly be over-estimated. An undoubted authority, Dr. Robert Brown, F.L.S., observes : 



" When the Greenland Dogs die off, the Greenlander must become extinct : more certainly even 

 than must the ' Plain ' Indian when the last Buffalo is shot. It is impossible for him to drag home 

 the Seals, Sharks, White Whales, or Narwhals which he may have shot in the winter at the 'strom-holes' 

 in the ice without his Dogs ; or for the wild native in the far North to make his long migrations, with 

 his family and household goods, from one hunting-ground to another without these domestic animals 

 of his. Yet that sad event seems to be not far distant. Several years' ago, a curious disease, 

 the nature of which has puzzled veterinarians, appeared among the Arctic Dogs, from high up in 

 Smith's Sound down the whole coast of Greenland to Jakobshavn (69 13' N. lat.), where the 

 ice-fjord stops it from going farther south ; and the Government uses every endeavour to stop its spread 

 beyond that barrier by preventing the native Dogs north and south from commingling. Kane and 

 Hayes lost most of their Dogs through this disease ; and at every settlement in Danish Greenland the 

 natives are impoverished through the death of their teams. It is noticed that whenever a native loses 

 his Dogs he goes very rapidly down-hill in the sliding scale of Arctic respectability, becoming a sort 

 of hanger-on of the fortunate possessor of a sledge-team. 



" During the latter portion of our stay in Jakobshavn, scarcely a day elapsed during which some 

 of the Dogs were not ordered to be killed, on account of their having caught this fatal epidemic. 



" The Dog is seized with madness, bites at all other Dogs, and even at human beings. It is soon 

 unable to swallow its food, and constipation ensues. It howls loudly during the continuance of the 

 disease, but generally dies in the course of a day, with its teeth firmly transfixing its tongue. It has 

 thus something of the nature of hydrophobia, but differs from that disease in not being communicable 

 by bite, though otherwise contagious among Dogs. The Government sent out a veterinary surgeon to 

 investigate the nature of the distemper ; but he failed to suggest any remedy, and it is now being 

 ' stamped out ' by killing the Dogs whenever seized a heroic mode of treatment, which will only be 

 successful when the last Dog becomes extinct in Greenland." 



The Eskimo Dog is found throughout a great part of the Arctic regions the herds found in 

 Siberia, Kamtschatka, and Arctic America being all closely allied to one another, and all resembling, to 

 a wonderful degree, the great Arctic Wolf, from which there can be little doubt they are descended. 

 In form they resemble the Shepherd's Dog, and attain to the size of the Newfoundland. The muzzle 

 and ears are pointed, the hair long, and with a short yellowish-grey fur between the hairs. The eyes 

 are often oblique, and the howl peculiarly wolfish. The colour varies a good deal : some of the Dogs 

 being black, with a white breast ; others white ; others reddish, yellowish, or spotted. This variety 

 in colour is very characteristic of domesticated races of animals. There is never the same amount 

 of difference found between the individuals of a wild species. 



Not only does the Eskimo Dog agree with the Wolf in appearance, but also in disposition : it is 

 wild, savage, and obstinate to a degree almost inconceivable to us, who are only acquainted with 

 civilised Dogs. In illustration of the wolf-like disposition of the beast, Dr. Robert Brown relates an 

 incident which shows that it is but little removed from its probable ancestor. We said above that it 

 was only half-tamed ; so certainly is this the case, that it " can only be kept in subjection by the most 

 unmerciful lashing, for its savage nature will out. When at Clyde River, in 1861, I heard of a most 



* Sir J. Richardson's " Fauna Boreali-Americana" 



