ARCTIC SLEDGE-TRAVELLING. 301 
In the Government Searching Expeditions we gained no experi- 
ence of snow-houses, and but little of sledging with dogs, yet that 
little was sufficient to convince us of their value. For instance, 
during the spring of 1854, our only team of dogs was kept constantly 
at work, and, without counting occasional short trips, they accom- 
plished in sixty days’ travelling, 1830 miles, affording an average 
rate of thirty miles, their sledge on the whole being rather lightly 
laden. On several occasions they performed the distance of sixty 
miles between the Assistance and North Star in from twenty to 
twenty-four hours. 
The Government having finally abandoned the search, Lady 
Franklin nobly determined to make one more effort, and in 1857 she 
sent out the little Fox, under my command. 
As our entire crew numbered only twenty-four souls, the employ- 
ment of dogs now became a necessity ; accordingly twenty-four were 
embarked. In the spring of 1859 we sent out from the Fox three 
separate divisions of search, each consisting of six men and six or 
seven dogs; each division accomplished about 1000 miles of distance, 
and men and dogs worked harmoniously together for the lengthened 
period of nearly eighty days. 
Dog-driving is so well known that but little need be said here 
about it. Sometimes there was a little delay at starting, the dogs 
not allowing themselves to be caught and harnessed. Their harness 
consists of a few strips of canvas, and a single trace of about twelve 
feet long, the leading dog having a longer trace than the rest. Once 
started they are guided by the whip, which the driver should be able 
to use effectively with either hand. As the dogs on each flank are 
most exposed to its influence, there is a continual striving to get 
into the middle, by jumping over each other’s backs, so that it is 
often necessary to halt, pull off one’s mitts, and at the risk of frozen 
fingers, disentangle the traces which have become quite plaited up 
together. When a dog feels the lash he usually bites his neighbour, 
who bites the next dog, and a general fight and howling begin. The 
lash is no longer of any avail, and the driver is compelled to restore 
order with the handle of his whip. The journey is then more 
briskly continued for a little time, and so on throughout the march, 
until at length camping time arrives. 
The moment our weary dogs were allowed to cease dragging, 
they fell asleep and remained motionless, until the cook for the day 
commenced chopping up the pemmican or the dog’s meat. At the 
first sound of his axe they would spring up and surround him like 
so many famished wolves, darting upon any splinters of meat which 
