430 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



short, the body long, the limbs slender, the tail moderately long, the 

 brassy eyes obliquely set, the short pointed ears held erect, the hair 

 extraordinarily long and thick, consisting of a mixture of decidedly 

 woolly and bristly hairs. The colour varies, but is predominantly 

 pure white, or white with deep black, usually regular markings on 

 both sides of the head, including the ears, on the back and on the 

 sides of the body; or it may be wolf or mouse gray, or dun-coloured, 

 watered and waved, but never striped. The slightly bushy tail is 

 always carried hanging, or extended, but never curled, and the re- 

 semblance to a wild dog is thereby greatly increased. 



Constant and intimate association with man has transformed 

 the Ostiak dog into an exceedingly good-natured animal. He is 

 watchful but not given to biting, brave but not pugnacious, faithful 

 and eager but not hostile to strangers nor violent. Though he hastens 

 suspiciously, if not exactly with unfriendliness, towards a stranger, 

 he becomes confiding as soon as he hears him speak with his master, 

 or sees him step into the tshum. He is in no way pampered, for 

 though he loves to share the dwelling of his, master or mistress, he 

 exposes himself without apparent discomfort to wind and weather, 

 throws himself unhesitatingly into the cold water of the river and 

 swims straight across a broad arm, or, when on a journey, trots on 

 uncomplainingly under the sledge to which he is chained, whether 

 the way lead over bog or morass, among dwarf-birch bushes or 

 through water. Intelligent and cunning, ingenious and inventive, 

 clever and active, he knows how to make his life comfortable, and 

 to adapt himself to all situations. In the tshum he lies self-deny- 

 ingly beside much-desired foods; outside of his master's hut he is a 

 bold and greedy thief; among the dwarf -birches of the tundra he 

 trots indifierently under the sledge, but over smooth or other easy 

 ground he places himself with all four legs together on the runners 

 of the sledge and lets himself be carried. While hunting he is a 

 faithful and useful assistant to his master, but he snaps away the 

 game which he has scented and a stranger shot, and devours it 

 with such an air of inoffensive enjoyment that one cannot be angry 

 with him. In tending the herds he shows himself acquainted with 

 all the peculiarities and tricks of the reindeer, and he is docile enough; 



