282 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 10. 1883. 



sively copied throughout the country, without any credit to 

 the author, however, and upon the text thus furnished a 

 number of sermons of considerable length have been 

 preached. The closing articles of Lieut. Sehwatka's aeries 

 makes reference to it. at this time very :ippiopriutc. 



Although the IT. S. Government. has in no way recognized 

 Mr. Sehwalka's important services in the Arctic, other na- 

 tion:, have been more appreciative. The French Geograph- 

 ical Society Ins awarded bicn the triennial gold medal for 

 Arctic exploration. This honor has fallen three times before 

 to Americans, Dr. Kane, Dr. t. I. Hays and Captaiu Hall 

 Laving each received it. It is interesting to note that this 

 medal was awarded to Mr. Schwatka over Professor Nord- 

 enskjold. As has been well said, the only order Schwatka 

 had conferred upou him by a grateful republic was an order 

 to join his regiment. 



ADIUOXVAI K SURVEI mWS. 



xvii.— vorxii rftoas. 



TK ilarrigau's play of "McSoilcy's Inflation" when the 



-*- hero of the piece wants the nomination for coroner and 



addresses a meeting of colored men, he says: "When the 



learned gintleman who spoke last kern from Africa ," 



and when the whole meeting rises to smite him, he exclaims: 

 "Ibmld on, gintlemen; it is not of the gintleman himself 

 that I'm spakiug, but of his pra historic progenaytors." 

 So it is not of the frogs themselves that 1 propose to write 

 this time, but of their "pra-historie progenaytors," the 

 taftpoles, 



Whether you call the larval frog a tadpole or a pollywog, 

 for the names vary in different places, it is a queer fellow. 

 What round, well fed paunches they have, and what an 

 Innocent look beams from their eyes, and how they wiggle 

 off in schools from the warmest water they can find near the 

 shores w Inn J on approach. A. serious-minded person once 

 asked me: "What is the difference between a tadpole and a 

 pollywog?" I answered him that it was a disputed point 

 tfinong naturalists; that one school held that the animal was 

 ft tadpole only in ils first few days, while it had external gills; 

 another, that it was a pollywog for some months, until the 

 legs sprouted and the tail began to shorten, and then it 

 arrived at the tadpole' stage, but that the latest authority, 

 the learned Runa Palustris, held that the tadpole was the 

 male and Miss Polly the female. This left him room to 

 ponder on differences and to practice some original investi- 

 gation. 



One day I was down by the outlet of u pond with a laud- 

 ing net collecting small flshes, and among the weeds and 

 other things there were some tadpoles at every haul. They 

 were remarkably line ones, and in the hope of finding a 

 Specimen far advanced toward I'roghood, I sat down and 

 looked them over. Some boys came down to see what was 

 going on They wete bright little fellows, full of questions 

 -■bout everything arouud them, and of course they wanted 

 to know about the pollywogs. I never could find it in my 

 heart to guy a boy of that kind. Bless them, if their minds 

 Would always remain as bright, and their lore of nature 

 always cling to them, how happy they would be. So 1 

 gathered them all around me to lell them about the tadpoles, 

 when one opined tile Subject with. "Now, honestly, Mr. M., 

 are these pollywogs realty and truly young frogs?" "Yes, 

 really and truly, they are young frogs. See! here is one 

 that lias its legs already visible under the skin." They 

 could not quite make it out, however, and with a scalpel I 

 removed the skin and showed them a rudimentary limb. 

 That roused their desire to know all about them, and I was 

 led into a lecture on the subject, and had a most attentive 

 class, for the boy is always a naturalist, and only by the 

 withering touch of "business" does he lose his taste for 

 natural history. This is what 1 told them: 



In April the frog lays her eggs in the water. They are 

 surrounded by a jelly-like substance and all hang together, 

 making a bunch often three times as large as the frog that 

 laid them, 'flay float among the weeds, usually near shore, 

 and hatch in a week or ten days. The green scum that you 

 see on the water, and which is called by many "frog spawn" 

 and "frog spittle" is a vegetable growth with which the 

 fj'Og has mi connection, except that it grows in the water 

 where he lives. When the eggs hatch the larval frog is 

 shaped much as these, tadpoles are, but the gills are outside 

 of the necks they are afterward inclosed by the outer skin 

 Which closes around them, leaving this little opening for 

 the watev to puss out. Tin: change from a caterpillar to a 

 butterfly is not more wonderful than the change from a 

 tadpole to a frog. The whole structure is changed. A frog 

 is a lung-breathing animal that was formerly classed with 

 I he reptiles, but is now, with the trttons, salamanders, toads, 

 etc., in the class Batmchia. These are all cold-blooded 

 vertebrates whose nearest relatives are the fishes, and whose 

 young are all tadpoles. Now there is no definition of it 

 fish which can exclude a tadpole, and we only deny that it 

 is a fish because we know that it comes from a battachian 

 egg and will in time change to that higher class. It has a 

 tin, as you see, all around its tail; if has a skin like some 

 fishes, ami now you see where 1 have laid its head open 

 there are beautiful gills. You may have heard people 

 say "a tadpole grows some legs, his tail drops off. and 

 he is a frog." Thai is nil true except the tail part, this is 

 absorbed, not shed. The tail is of great use to the tadpole, 

 but the frog is a good swimmer without it, and it would be 

 a great waste of material lo throw away the tail after grow- 



ing it to such a size. The fact is, that the tadpole first 

 sprouts a small pair of hindlcgs, then the forelegs appear 

 and the tail begins to shorten. After this, the little sucking 

 mouth which you see in the tadpole, which is formed for 

 sucking the slime from plants and the flesh from dead fishes, 

 begins to change into the broad mouth of the frog, which is 

 better adapted to catching insects. These are the external 

 changes which any careless observer may note, but more 

 wonderful changes are going ou inside. The gills arc also 

 bding absorbed, and a little pair of lungs are growing, and 

 at first the adolescent frog comes up to the surface and takes 

 a mouthful of air just to try his new lungs and strengthen 

 them, in time the gills are gone, and he can breathe the 

 air at any time. The intestines arc changed from this great 

 convoluted mass, suitable to a vegetable diet, to a shorter 

 arrangement, better fitted to a carnivorous menu. So, you 

 see, boys, there is more in the growth of a tadpole than you 

 thought, for, and if you will only watch the growth and 

 habits of all living things, you will not only he interested 

 but will better understand your own life. 



The boys showed the greatest interest, in the dissection 

 and the explanations and will never forget the lesson. No 

 doubt they will instruct other boys in the beautiful changi 

 that are going on in the larval frog and teach them to see 

 beauty even in a pollywog. 



I have been tempted to write out this incident because I 

 have found boys of sixty years old who have been fishin; 

 all their lives who knew no more of tadpoles than the class 

 I found that July day on the shores of Clear Pond. They 

 had a tradition that a tadpole became a frog, somehow, and 

 they believed, but never absolutely knew it, because they 

 never look the trouble to keep some specimens and note the 

 change. They were content to take the word of others that 

 the change was made, but only had an indefinite idea that 

 to grow legs and lose the tail was all that Was requisite. 

 Some of these jolly old boys, 1 hope, will be glad to know 

 what I told the young boys who were my students for half 

 an hour, and whom 1 hope to meet again with an increased 

 appetite for knowledge of nature and of the "pra-historic 

 progenaytors" of frogs. p. M. 



The "Wtnteh Talks on Summer Pastimes," which 

 were contributed to our columns by the late George Di 

 son, have been collected into book form, and arc published 

 by the Forest and Stream Publishing Co, 



pfo M^ ot ^H dn S aw i 



NIMROD IN THE NORTH. 



FUED'lC SCHWATliA, U. S. AK.MY. 



,nd DoK-Sled«fng~Part One. 

 iucIi if there is a domestic animal in the 

 fare of a people as 



BY LIED 1 



VI.— Dogs a 

 j DOUBT very Ul 

 X world that is sc 

 the dog is to the nal 

 American Arctic, 

 their mule for pack 

 the chase — and by tl 



es of the north, especially (hose of the 

 is their horse for drawing vehicles, 

 * their effects, their hunting dog for 

 : chase alone do they subsist — ami in 



case of great extremity the bitter morsel by which they 

 n vol I starvation. 



"How large are the Esquimaux dogs" is a question I have 

 been asked more than a score of times for every Esquimau 

 dog 1 have ever seen. I always answer that they are about 

 the size of a rock. There is a general impression among 

 people of the temperate zone that these dogs are a distinct 

 breed, and that a description of any one taken here or 

 there would, with very slight modifications, serve for any. 

 The Esquimaux dogs are about as distinct a breed as the 

 breed of curs at home, although a far more useful animal in 

 every respect. There is a sort of general similarity in their 

 pointed, wolfish ears (if they have not had them broken in 

 wrangles over food, as the great proportion of those that I 

 have seen in North Hudson's Bay seem to have) and in their 

 shaggy coats of warm hair. But, after all, I have seen 

 them when full grown of all sizes, from a small pointer to a 

 small Newfoundland, and with coats as shaggy and beauti- 

 ful as the latter and again as coarse and straight as the 

 veriest mongrel ; while one may have a muzzle like a fax 

 and another a mug like a bulldog, although the latter is 

 rare anda medium between the two very common. A dog 

 painter visiting the Arctic wauld have to bring every color 

 that he had ever used with all the combined breeds at" home, 

 while one who trains these animals would find enough 

 varietv of dispositions to exercise the brain of a genius. So 

 different are their sizes that the native dog-driver generally 

 has a harness for each, and lie always knows its assignment 

 when Ihe doss are hitched up in the morning for the day's 

 work, as the collar of one that would pull his ears as it was 

 put on might be almost too large for the shoulders of some 

 little runt that had been dwarfed in his puppyhood by too 

 good or bad treatment. 



The big dogs lord it over the smaller ones in a thousand 

 disagreeable ways, although their pugnacious insolence does 

 not always reward them with the best to he had. If in the 

 way of food the morsels be made very small, the active little 

 fellows will be almost sure to get the greater part of it, for 

 ■ery first reception of food among a number of tl 



belligerents, in which the 

 This the native dog-driver knows, and 

 lily is all toward those that do (he most work — 

 ig fellows— such distributions are not very com- 

 ber source of common annoyance to the little 

 i masters of both, is when "the snow-house is 

 iud its long passageway of snow blocks has 

 aid (he little ones crawl' into it for the night's 

 th they are usually not disturbed by the larger 

 >s a storm comes up, and then they are sure to 

 protected berth, and walk in to take it on the geu- 

 iple that "might makes right." A fight of course 

 ensues, for even the small dogs, knowing the inevitable re- 

 It. feel that thev can hardly give up'such a warm berth 

 without some show of rights. The result is that the snow 

 block closing the igloo door is generally knocked in, and I 



a tussle among I 

 reap the harvest 



completed, : 

 been built, i 

 rest, in whk 

 dogs 



the inmates, or some one of them, gets up, slick in hand, and 

 with vigorous blows clears the passage of all dogs, without 

 regard to "age, sex or color." This is repeated at interest- 

 ing intervals throughout the night if it continue stormy, 



I believe I have already said, in a former article in the 

 Forest and Stream, that the well-trained Esquimau dog 

 never barks in the presence of game, and in fact, seldom 

 barks at all; but it must not be inferred therebv that thev arc 

 not a noisy race. Their half-starved condition keeps them 

 in a chrouicstate or belligerency, growling and fighting over 

 everything that bears even" a resemblance to food. 

 During the night, especially those cold, bright, moonlight 

 ones so common in the Arctic winter, they will frequently 

 favor you with a canine concert of prolonged howls that 

 makes sleep almost impossible. The native driver, awakened 

 by the fearful din, may attempt to suppress it by sharply 

 shouting Ywjer! Y<tgm-! at the top of his stentorian voice. This 

 jn the small closed igloo sounds not unlike a 15-inch gun 

 in a turret, and one feels like the small boy that, would rather 

 have the chills than take the cholngogne.' They are partic- 

 ularly prone to these midnight revels when tied up, a. course 

 which it is necessary to pursue in the early autumn to prevent 

 them scampering after the reindeer that may be grazing near 

 by. and driving them away. At this time they are muzzled, so 

 that their howling noise may not frighten the game, and 

 unless some very energetic canine liberates himself, the sleepy 

 man may have comparative quiet. 



Every time they are harnessed to the sledge, the first crack 

 of the whip to start is a signal for what might be called in 

 frontier parlance "a free fight." The first dog struck makes 

 a belligerent spring for his nearest neighbor, who in turn 

 retaliates on the next, and so on until, 'like the proverbial 

 row of upright bricks, they are all down in a matted mass of 

 hair, harness, and howls, which the native driver at once 

 proceeds to unravel with the butt end of his whip. Having 

 taken their preliminary "bitters, " they are then ready for a 

 serious start and trot, along the rest of the day in a manner 

 worthy of Barnum's happy family. 



They are in general a most unbearable nuisance. Two 

 or three heads can always be seen closing the igloo ready 

 to steal anything eatable that may be left unwatclied for a 

 moment, and then eusues a noisy wrangling over the cap- 

 ture which generally ends in some big aggressive dog, which, 

 by the way. has not risked getting bis head broken at the 

 igloo entrance, walking off with the spoils, unless speedily 

 recaptured by the inmates, which in case of eatables, unless 

 of unusual size, is very rare. While traveling the Innuits 

 make quite small igloos, just large enough to hold everybody 

 when properly "spooned," and store all the harness, meat", 

 and so forth, in as small an igloo as possible alongside; 

 When everybody has retired the dogs commence their engi- 

 neering to get the contents, scratching away as if for dear 

 life, until a panther-like yell from the native driver frightens 

 them away; but he is very lucky indeed if he is not com- 

 pelled to get up once or twice during the night and repair 

 some damage they have done. This can be forestalled by 

 pouring water on" the snow, converting it inlo ice, but with 

 the careless indifference so characteristic of the Esquimaux, 

 they seldom do this until the dogs have demolished several 

 small store igloos and stolen their edible contents. When 

 one reflects that these animals are only fed every other day 

 even when there is plenty of food for them, and oftentimes 

 only every third or fourth day, if the canine larder is not 

 very full, their voracious ferocity is easily understood. 



On King William's Land at one time, the dogs of Henry's 

 party returning from Terror Bay to Gladman Point, were 

 seven days without food, doing hard work all the time; the 

 party itself, meanwhile, beiug nearly three days without 

 anything to eat. 1 have known them to cat sole-leather, 

 pistol holsters, canvas gun-covers, oil-cloth clothes, tarred 

 rope, cloth saturated with grease, and in rmtte to Back's 

 River had them devour a pair of India-rubber overshoes that I 

 was depending upon for summer wear, as if their consciences 

 were not sufiicieutly elastic without them. We had been 

 fortunate in securing a few reindeer while returning home- 

 ward along Back's "River, most of which we found well 

 inland from the river, and it was also this fact, added to 

 many other reasons not of a sporting character, that induced 

 my natives to ask me to leave its barren bed. This scanty 

 supply of reindeer meat, with the rapidly disappearing fish 

 that we had bought of the Esquimaux at" the mouth of the 

 river, gave, the "poor dogs but few scanty meals, which, 

 coupled with the razor-edged weather in (lie depth of an 

 Artie winter, told terribly upon them, and before we had 

 left the river wo had lost one fine flog, and so drained the 

 italily out of the rest that we increased the mortality' to 

 twenty-six out of forty-five before we reached Camp Daly. 

 It was pitiable, indeed, to be compelled to notice the silent 

 sufferings of these faithful companions as they slowly fell 

 by the wayside, with a seeming devotion as if this sacrifice 

 was self-imposed to aid as much as possible on our uncom- 

 fortable journeyings. 



Ravenous as they are, tearing everytliiug to pieces not 

 actually wood or iron, or raiding fearlessly into the igloos 

 in quest of food, they are faithful respectors of their human 

 companions, not even once attempting to harm the little 

 children who wander innocently among them, pelting 

 them with toy whips, when half "an hour afterward they 

 would be savagely tearing a dead starved companion, limb 

 from limb, to secure the hide, which was nearly all that 

 u as left of bira. 10 very lime one of the party entered the 

 igloo they wedged themselves in along with him, so tightly 

 that it was almost impossible to move, hoping thereby to 

 steal some stray morsel of meat, and when outside every 

 motion made was inteutly watched, and if it bore a resem- 

 blance to giving them anything eatable, they would make 

 a rush that would pile 'the pack around you in a most 

 alarming-looking but harmless way, until something else 

 drew their attention in another direction. These facts have 



;s led persons to believe that 

 lo do bodilv harm" were the motives ae 

 looking gang under these circumstances, 1 

 with Esquimaux dogs has been that when 

 desired to make a meal off of their ' 



take 



whei 

 lives 



know o 

 The I 

 ous trai 

 no mor 

 squaw 



potaloe 

 pie 

 just em 

 menlioi 

 already 



ire eft 

 ■ the imaginatio 

 vere in danger. 

 of no such case; 



i endurance of t 



ait of charactei 



mea 



s to prevent it th 



ler, 



>f th 

 The Esquim 



It with inteut 

 ding the fierce- 



my experience 

 tarving, if they 

 allies, it would 



those recorded 

 ived that their 

 x of my acquaintance 



Esquimau dog is his most conspicu- 

 vcr his southern fellow, whom he 

 feebleness of flesh than the Indian 

 of the West,' carrying her two-bushel basket of 

 strapped over her head lo the Agency building a 

 if miles away resembles a Fifth avenue belle, with 

 ugh strength to roll her eyes in her head at the 

 of tile lust novel. I have more than hinted at this 

 in he previous paragraphs, but have not given the 



