

THE ESQUIMAUX DOG. 598 
Esquimaux Dog ; and, although it may require more of faith 
: in the Darwinian hypothesis than every one feels obliged to 
possess, to acknowledge it as a distinct species from the 
"eurs of low degree" which infest our civilization, no one 
Will fail to concede that it is a sufficiently well marked 
variety. Being thus remarkable, it has received more or less 
notice from nearly every voyager on the more northern 
coasts of our continent; and notwithstanding that the subject 
is therefore not entirely new, I venture to add a few obser- 
vations of my own, made during a residence of about a year 
on the coasts of Alaska, near Behring's Straits. 
There is no necessity of going into detail as to the general 
appearance of our subject, in this place, as descriptions are 
sufficiently numerous and accessible in works of travel, 
cyclopedias, etc., the habits and peculiarities in other re- 
Spects, affording sufficient grounds for remarks. Suffice it 
merely to say, that with his heavy, but even coat of hair 
filling up and rounding off the hollows and angles of his 
body, his bushy tail curling over his back, erect ears, and 
the generally intelligent. expression of countenance, the 
squimaux Dog may be called a rather handsome animal. 
The average size appears to me to have been overestimated 
1n some of the descriptions, although the breed may attain 
larger dimensions in other regions than that in which I 
Observed it. A few individuals were seen which approached 
r equalled in size the Newfoundland dog, but by far the 
greater number were decidedly smaller, some appearing 
even diminutive in comparison ; still, however, preserving all 
characteristic marks of the variety. In color they vary 
m white to black through the different shades of gray and 
rown, a very large proportion being piebald. Some of 
' Variations in size and color may perhaps be owing to& 
slight admixture of foreign blood, as there are among the 
Alaska Esquimaux a large number of mongrels, with the 
Indian dogs of the interior, the Siberian dogs introduced by 
the Russians, and doubtless with various forms of the dogs 
