1885. ] Zobvlogy. 897 
domestic varieties of dogs were domesticated by the aborigines 
and used by them long anterior to the discovery of the continent 
by the Europeans, the varieties in question originating fromthe gray 
wolf or prairie wolf. First as to the Eskimo dog.. From the fol- 
lowing extract from Frobisher it appears evident that the Eskimo 
had the present breed of domestic dogs long anterior to the year 
1577. Frobisher’s account of the Eskimo themselves is, so far as 
we know, the first extant, and is full and characteristic. After 
describing the natives he goes on to say: “They frank or keepe 
certaine dogs not much much vnlike wolues, which they yoke 
togither, as we do oxen and horses, to a sled or traile: and so 
carry their necessaries over the yce and snow from place to place: 
as the captive, whom we haue, made perfect signes, And when 
those dogs are not apt for the same vse: or when with hunger 
they are constrained for lack of other vituals, they eate them’ 
so that they are as pec for them in respect of their bignesse, 
as our oxen are for v 
Regarding the Eko dog, Richardson remarks in his Fauna 
Boreali-Americana, p. 75: “The great resemblance which the 
domestic dogs of the aboriginal tribes of America bear to the 
wolves of the same country, was remarked by the earliest set- 
tlers from Europe (Smith’s Virginia), and has induced some nat- 
uralists of much observation to consider them to be nearly half- 
tamed wolves (Kalm). Without entering at all into the question 
of the origin of the domestic dog, I may state that the resem- 
blance between the wolves and the dogs of those Indian nations, 
who still preserve their ancient mode of life, continues to be very 
remarkable, and it is nowhere more so, than at the very northern 
extremity of the continent, the Esquimaux dogs being not only 
extremely like the gray wolves of the Arctic circle, in form and 
color, but also nearly equaling them in size. The ‘dog has gen- 
erally a shorter tail than the wolf, and carries it more frequently 
curled over the hip, but the latter practice is not totally unknown 
to the wolf. *-* * I have, however, seen a family of wolves 
playing together, occasionally carry their tail curled upwards.” 
e Hare Indian dog is also supposed to be a domesticated 
race of the prairie dog, as shown by tap following extract from 
Richardson’ s Fauna Boreali-American 
Great Bear lake and the banks of the Mackenzie. Itis used by 
them solely in the chase, being too small to be useful as a beast of 
burden or draught.” Itis smaller than the prairie wolf. “On com- 
paring live specimens I could detect no marked difference in form 
(except the smallness of its cranium), nor in fineness of the fur, 
1 The second voyage of Master Martin Frobisher, 1577. se by Master Dio- 
nise Settle, Hakluyt, Vol. 111, new edition, London, 1810, p. 6 
