78 
PASSIONAL ZOOLOGY. 
office of postillion, guide, and motive power, i, e., to take the place 
of two men and a horse! And how suffice for such an exigency 
when he has only his nose for compass and chronometer ; for no 
trace of vegetation is up to indicate the path — to serve as a land- 
mark in those dull solitudes, where the earth sleeps buried in 
depths of eternal frost, under a leaden sky. 
At long intervals only, stand wretched huts, often uninhabitable, 
— obligated stations of the tourist in these snowy deserts — only 
shelter for man against the cold of the night. There the sledge 
must arrive by a certain hour ; danger of death is impending on the 
least mistake of the road. 
We may perhaps imagine that the dog, conscious of the im- 
mense responsibility which he assumes, would be tempted to shrink 
before the peril. They know him little who suppose him capable 
of such cowardice. The courage of the dog is of that sort which 
rises to the level of circumstances. As the eye and foot of the 
mule steady at the sight of a yawning abyss, so the intelligence 
of the dog increases in proportion to his responsibility. It is, in 
fact, still a small affair to pull a man straight along through empty 
space : a man, he is docile — he gives no trouble — he has no great 
will, at the north pole, 32<^ below zero. The danger does not lie in 
the insubordination of the traveler ; it lies entirely in the inexperi- 
ence and want of discipline of the pack : all is lost if mutiny arises. 
For the reader must learn that one ardent, impetuous passion — the 
only one that can struggle against univ^ ersal atony in these extreme 
confines of the region of life — the passion of the chase, burns in the 
heart of these ten coursers that have just been harnessed to the 
car of our traveler, and the least spark may provoke its ex- 
plosion. Let a fresh track of bear, reindeer, or elk cross the line 
of the light vehicle, and behold the sledge suddenly turned on this 
track with furious leaps — behold the aim of the journey complete- 
ly lost sight of. They have sworn indeed to the master, at the 
moment of departure, to behave themselves like wise dogs ; but 
passion has spoken by the scent of the beast, and reason is killed, 
and the sledge flies—flies with the speed of the hurricane, rasping 
the dust from the silvered crest of the snow billows. 
Whither, good God, are we running, and where shall we sleep 
