136 MAMMALIA— DOG. 



the back, and attached to the sledge as a trace. Though they appear at first 

 sight, to be huddled together without regard to regularity, there is, in fact, 

 considerable attention paid to their arrangement, particularly in the selec- 

 tion of a dog of peculiar spirit and sagacity, who is allowed, by a longer 

 trace, to precede the rest as leader, and to whom, in turning to the right or 

 left, the driver usually addresses himself. This choice is made without 

 regard to age or sex, and the rest of the dogs take precedency according to 

 their training or sagacity, the least effective being put nearest the sledge. 

 The leader is usually from eighteen to twenty feet from the fore part of the 

 sledge, and the hindmost dog about half that distance ; so that when ten or 

 twelve are running together, several are nearly abreast of each other. The 

 driver sits quite low, on the fore part of the sledge, with his feet overhang- 

 ing the snow on one side, and having in his hand a whip, of which the 

 handle is plaited a little way down to stiffen it, and give it a spring, on 

 which much of its use depends ; and that which composes the lash is chew- 

 ed by the women, to make it flexible in frosty weather. The men acquire 

 from their youth considerable expertness in the use of this whip, the lash 

 of which is left to trail along the ground by the side of the sledge, and with 

 which they can inflict a very severe blow on any dog at pleasure. Though 

 the dogs are kept in training entirely by fear of the whip, and, indeed, with- 

 out it, would soon have their own way, its immediate effect is always 

 detrimental to the draught of the sledge ; for not only does the individual 

 that is struck draw back, and slacken his trace, but generally turns upon 

 his next neighbor, and this passing on to the next, occasions a general 

 divergency, accompanied by the usual yelping and showing of the teeth. 

 The dogs then come together again by degrees, and the draught of the 

 sledge is accelerated ; but even at the best of times, by his rude mode of 

 draught, the traces of one third of the dogs form an angle of thirty or forty 

 degrees on each side of the direction in Avhich the sledge is advancing. 

 Another great inconvenience attending the Esquimaux method of putting 

 the dogs to, besides that of not employing their strength to the best advan- 

 tage, is the constant entanglement of the traces, by the dogs repeatedly 

 doubling under from side to side, to avoid the whip ; so that, after running 

 a few miles, the traces always require to be taken off and cleaned. 



"In directing the sledge, the whip acts no very essential part, the driver 

 for this purpose using certain words, as the carters do with us, to make the 

 dogs turn more to the right or left. To these a good leader attends with 

 admirable precision, especially if his own name be repeated at the same 

 time, looking behind over his shoulder with great earnestness, as if listening 

 to the directions of the driver. On a beaten track, or even where a single 

 foot or sledge mark is occasionally discernible, there is not the slightest 

 trouble in guiding the dogs : for even in the darkest night, and in the 

 heaviest snow-drift, there is little or no danger of their losing the road, the 

 leader keeping his nose near the ground, and directing the rest with won- 



