

THE DOGS OF FORT RESOLUTION 165 



destroy, they defile with elaborate persistency and pre- 



cision/' 



A common trick of the Indians when canoe season 

 arrives is to put all the family and one or two of 

 the best dogs in the canoes, then push away from the 

 shore, leaving the rest behind. Those so abandoned 

 come howling after the canoes, and in unmistakable 

 pleadings beg the heartless owners to take them in. 

 But the canoes push off toward the open sea, aiming 

 to get out of sight. The dogs howl sadly on the 

 shore, or swim after them till exhausted, then drift 

 back to the nearest land to begin the summer of 

 hardship. 



If Rabbits are plentiful they get along; failing these 

 they catch mice or fish; when the berry season comes 

 they eat fruit; the weaker ones are devoured by their 

 brethren; and when the autumn arrives their insensate 

 owners generally manage to come back and pick up 

 the survivors, feeding them so that they are ready for 

 travel when dog-time begins, and the poor faithful 

 brutes, bearing no grudge, resume at once the service 

 of their unfeeling masters. 



All through our voyage up Great Slave Lake we 

 daily heard the sad howling of abandoned dogs, and 

 nightly, we had to take steps to prevent them steal- 

 ing our food and leathers. More than once in the dim 

 light, I was awakened by a rustle, to see sneaking from 

 my tent the gray, wolfish form of some prowling dog, 

 and the resentment I felt at the loss inflicted, was never 

 more than to make me shout or throw a pebble at 

 him. 



