392 I. I. Hayes on the Passage to the North Pole. 
to a science, and in this transportation the Esquimaux dog will 
be found of most essential service. Indeed I am convinced that 
the services of this animal have been too lightly estimated by 
the English explorers, while the! difficulties of keeping and _ 
using them have on the other hand been over-estimated. By — 
depending upon them for all purposes of draught the cost of an 
expedition could be greatly reduced, and its size diminished 
more than one half. I think a vessel of one hundred tons, 
manned by twelve men and carrying from the Greenland colo- 
nies two good teams of Esquimaux dogs, (fourteen in number,) 
would be as effective for field operations when once in winter 
harbor, as three times the number of men with a vessel twice 
the size, and much more satisfactory and reliable. Indeed for — os , 
draught and transportation over the icy deserts of the Arctic — 
Seas there can be no substitute for the dog. A man will carry 
upon a sledge an average weight of about 112 pounds 16 miles 
per day, a dog from 60 to 80 pounds from 30 to 40 miles se 
day. ‘The proportionate advantage in dead weight and dis 
tance is in favor of the dog, while in every other respect he 18 
to be preferred, since he will travel with a cargo where men can- 
not, as proved by the experience of Dr. Kane’s parties. He 1s 
far more enduring, consumes less food in proportion to the 
weight he will carry, and if dispatch be required it can always 
be had, for with i load one hundred miles may be made 
in a single march. I have frequently made seventy and eighty, 
and on one occasion drove a team of seven with two persons 
upon the sledge one hundred and twenty miles in forty consect 
tive hours, the animals during the time being almost wholly 
without food. ’ 
Could a winter harbor be secured near the mouth of Kennedy 
Channel, as I have already stated to be in all fore si 
ticable, two teams of dogs would, if the ice did not prove se 
pletely impassable, carry, between the opening of spring and : 
end of April, provisions—pemmican and bread—to the a ae 
of 1400 pounds, to the northern border of the ice; and by t 
first of June, a full equipment, including boats and eigen 
for four months, could with the aid of the same dogs be at 
same point ready for embarking. It is unnecessary to ent 
into further details. The weight to be carried can be computed 
almost to an ounce; the plan has borne the test of experience, 
and the ground is partially known. oad 
