IN THE INTERIOR OF GREENLAND 



ness, and tied four or six to the front of the sledge, with an 

 accompaniment of the cracking of the whip of the driver run- 

 ning behind, these dogs alternately fight among themselves 

 and pull the sledges over the frozen wastes of the North. Each 

 team has its leader, which keeps the remainder of the dogs in 

 submission, and whenever two teams have a chance there is 

 a general free-for-all dog fight. The sledges are composed of 

 numerous small pieces of drift-wood lashed together by thongs, 

 which give them the elasticity to overcome the hard usage they 

 receive when drawn over rocks and rough ice. The runners are 

 made of either wood or ivory, and, when necessary, are given 

 a coating of ice. There is an upright tail-piec to the sled 

 which the driver grasps with one hand, while with the other 

 he unerringly plies the long-lashed whip on any dog shirking 

 its share of the work. 



The interior of Greenland is a great dome of ice and frozen 

 snow, deposited in the course of centuries, and bounded on all 

 sides by the rugged fringe of granite mountains on which we 

 were hunting caribou. As we had read a great deal about the 

 various trips into the ice-cap by different Arctic expeditions, 

 after the party had shot a sufficient number of caribou to last 

 for some time, we decided to abandon hunting for a few days 

 and make a hurried trip into the interior of the continent. 

 After some persuasion, we so far overcame the hesitancy and 

 superstitions of three of the Eskimos that they agreed to ac- 

 company us on this trip with their dog-teams and sledges. 



Our party consisted of seven white men and these three 

 Eskimos. We took with us twelve of the best dogs, which 

 drew three sledges loaded with a heavy tarpaulin, an alcohol 

 cooking-stove, sleeping-bags, snow-shoes, and sufficient tinned 

 rations to last four days. We had selected as our road of ascent 

 to the ice-cap a valley leading up from the opposite side of 

 the bay. Choosing a bright day, we embarked our whole outfit 

 in the whale-boat and rowed across to a gravel bar on the far 



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