136 MAMMALIA—DOG. 
the back, and attached to the sledge asa 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 which 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. Ona 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 
