THE ESQUIMAUX DOG. 175 



says, that some fine specimens are about the height of the 

 Newfoundland dog 5 but the average height is one foot ten 

 inches, and the length from the muzzle to the root of the tail 

 about three feet three inches 5 and of the tail itself, about 

 thirteen inches. These dogs never bark, but howl in a melan- 

 choly strain, like that of the wolf; and, although they are 

 familiar and gentle with the inhabitants, they snarl and fight 

 amongst themselves, much more than the generality of other 

 dogs. 



Their several uses to the Esquimaux have been thus correctly 

 and briefly stated : "These people, inhabiting the most northerly 

 parts of the American continent, and the adjoining islands, are 

 dependant upon the services of these faithful dogs, for most of 

 the few comforts of their lives $ for assistance in the chase ; for 

 carrying burdens j and for their rapid and certain conveyance 

 over the trackless snows of their dreary plains. The dogs, 

 subjected to a constant dependance upon their masters, receiving 

 scanty food and abundant chastisement, assist them in hunting 

 the seal, the rein- deer, and the bear. In the summer, a single 

 dog carries a weight of thirty pounds, in attending his master 

 in pursuit of game : in winter, yoked in numbers to heavy 

 sledges, they drag five or six persons at the rate of seven or 

 eight miles an hour, and will perform journeys of sixty miles a 

 day. What the rein- deer is to the Laplander, this dog is to the 

 Esquimaux. He is a faithful slave, who grumbles, but does not 

 rebel ; whose endurance never tires ; and whose fidelity is never 

 shaken by blows and starving. These animals are obstinate 

 in their nature : but the women, who treat them with more 

 kindness than the men, and who nurse them in their helpless 

 state, or when they are sick, have an unbounded command 

 over their affections ; and can thus catch them at any time, 

 and entice them from their huts, to yoke them to the sledges, 

 even when they are suffering the severest hunger, and have no 

 resource but to eat the most tough and filthy remains of animal 

 matter which they can espy on their laborious journey."* 

 * The Menageries, vol. i. (1829), p. 36. 



