PLETE SKDIT OS: 143 
teen feet long, built of wood and placed about eighteen 
inches apart, upon the top of which are lashed a number 
of cross bars or slats. The runners are shod either with 
ivory or with mud, the latter answering the purpose 
exceedingly well. The mud covering is, of course, put on 
in a soft state, when it can be easily worked and formed 
into proper shape. When the mud is on, and the surface 
nicely smoothed off, it is allowed to freeze, and speedily 
becomes as hard as stone. In order to complete the 
vehicle, and put it in good running order, there is one 
thing to be done. The shoeing, whether of mud or 
ivory, must be covered with a thin coating of ice, in 
order to do which the Eskimo overturns the komitick, 
fills his spacious mouth with water from some convenient 
source, and then from his lips deposits a fine stream 
along the runner, where, quietly freezing, it forms a 
smooth glassy surface. 
During the winter season the komitick forms an 
important factor in the Eskimo’s life. It is drawn by a 
team, not of horses, nor even reindeer, but of dogs. The 
number of animals forming a team varies greatly, some- 
times consisting of not more than three good dogs, but 
at other times fifteen or more are attached to a single 
sled. Hach dog is attached by a single line, the length 
of which varies according to the merits of its owner. 
Thus the best dog in the team acts as leader, and has a 
line twenty or twenty-five feet in length. 
In order to control the team the driver carries a whip 
of somewhat startling dimensions. This instrument of 
torture has a short wooden handle only about eighteen 
inches long, but what is lacking in stock is more than 
made up in lash, for this latter, made of the hide of 
