

528 THE ESQUIMAUX DOG. 
lowing a previously made sled track he does not always 
follow it blindly, but will frequently cut across .short turns 
and show a considerable exercise of judgment in other ways. 
In the winter of 1865— 66, a small party of Russian traders 
and Esquimaux employees, some half a dozen persons alto- 
gether, while travelling with dogs and sleds, between the 
mouth of the Yukon River and Fort St. Michael's, on Norton 
Sound, were caught in a very severe snow-storm near the 
southern point of St. Michael's Island, a flat marshy region, 
very much intersected by water channels winding in every 
direction. The driving snow completely obseured all the 
landmarks, and the early nightfall of these latitudes coming 
on about the same time, they became confused and lost their 
way entirely. Having in the party no compass or other 
means of directing their course, their only recourse was to 
eall in the runner and trust to the intelligence of one of the 
leaders, an old dog which had been tried in similar emergen- 
cies and had not been found wanting, to bring them out of 
their peril. The plan succeeded; and under his guidance 
they arrived safely at their destination, a result which they 
all admitted could hardly have happened had they been left 
to their own direction. I give this story on the authority of 
_ the members of the party; the dog in question was unani- 
mously praised for his knowingness. I can myself testify 
to his general sagacity. If his finding the way must be 
accounted for, I should attribute it to his previous knowledge 
of the country, rather than to instinct or power of scent, 
which does not appear to be very remarkably developed in 
this variety. 
Most travellers have mentioned the voracity of these dogs 
in times of general scarcity. There appears then to be no 
limit to their appetite; nothing is safe from them; they vill 
devour old boots, rawhide ropes, and have even been known 
to tear up and swallow cotton cloth and old rags. The 
dogs belonging to the natives undergo such. periods of star- 


PINONEGMG ts ao eae a Re Me EEEE EAE Ry a gD O 
|. vation pretty regularly, and many succumb nearly every 
TURISTI TEES eS en ee E ENA d iJ MATT 
