536 THE CENTRAL ESKIMO. 



It is extremely hard work to travel with a heavy load, jiarticularly 

 in rough ice or on soft snow. The dogs require constant stimulating; 

 for this purpose a great numher of exclamations are in use and almost 

 every Eskimo has his own favorite words for driving. The general 

 exclamation used for stimulating is the above mentioned h! h! or 

 aq! aq! which is pressed out from the depths of the brettetand the 

 palate, the vowel being very indistinct. Others are: djua! the a 

 being drawn very long and almost sung in a high key, or ah! pro- 

 nounced in the same way; latit! or jauksa koksa! and smacking with 

 the tongue. If a seal is seen basking on the ice or if the sledge 

 happens to pass a deserted snow hut, the driver says, Ha! Do you see 

 the seal? Ai! A seal! a seal ! (Ha! Takuviuk!-' Ai! Uto! uto!) and 

 Ai! There is a house; a small house! (Ai! Iglu; igluaqdjung!) or. 

 Now we go home ! (Sarpoq! Sarpoq!) The latter, however, are only 

 used when the dogs are going at a good rate. 



For directing the sledge the following words are used: Ana. aua! 

 Aua! ja aua! for turning to the right; ^oia;i;oi! ja ;i.'oia! for turning 

 to the left. In addition the whip lash is thrown to the opposite 

 side of the dogs. The leader is the first to obey the order, but a 

 turn is made very slowly and by a long curve. If the driver wants 

 to make a sharper turn he must jump up and run to the opposite 

 side of the sledge, throwing the whip lash at the same time toward 

 the team. For stopping the dogs the word Ohoha! iDronounced in 

 a deep key, is used. 



If the traveling is difficult the driver must walk along at the right 

 side of the .sledge and wherever hummocks obstruct the passage he 

 must direct it around them either by pushing its head aside <ii- l)y 

 pulling at the deer's skull at the back. But notwithstamliiii;- all tliis 

 stimulating and all the pulling the sledge is frequently stDppi-d by 

 striking a piece of ice or by sinking into soft snow. As soon as it 

 sinks down to the cross bars it must be lifted out, and when the load 

 is heavy the only means of getting on is by unloading and afterwards 

 reloading. In the same way it must be lifted across hummocks 

 through which a road is cut with the end of the spear, which, for this 

 purpose, is always lashed in a place where it is liandy for use, gener- 

 ally on the right side of the bottom of the sledge. The difficulties of 

 traveling across heavy ice which" has been subjected to heavy press- 

 ures have frequently been described. When the sledge stops the 

 dogs immediately lie down, and if they cannot start again, though 

 pulling with all their strength, the leader frequently looks around 

 pitifully, as if to say. We cannot do more! 



Traveling with a liglit sledge and strong dogs is quite different. 

 Then the team is almost unmanageable and as soon as it is hitched 

 up it is off at full speed. The driver sits down on the fore part and 

 lets the whip trail along, always ready for use. Now the dogs have 

 time enough for playing and quarreling with one another. Though 



