XII.] 
DOG SLEDGES. 
95 
dogs, and a sledge laden with goods was drawn by a team of 
twenty-eight. The dogs are generally harnessed one pair before 
another to a long line common to all,^ sometimes in the case of 
short excursions more than two abreast, or so irregularly that 
their position in relation to the sledge appears to have depended 
merely on the accidental length of the draught-line and the 
caprice of the driver. The dogs are guided not by reins but by 
continual crying and shouting, accompanied by lashes from a 
long whip. There is, besides, in every properly equipped sledge 
a short and thick staff mounted with iron, with a number 
of iron rings attached to the upper end. When nothing else 
will do, this staff is thrown at the offending animal. The staff 
is so heavy that the animal may readily get its death by such a 
throw. The dogs know this, and in consequence are so afraid of 
this grim implement that the rattling of the rings is sufficient 
to induce them to put forth extreme efforts. During rests the 
team is tied to the staff, which is driven into the snow. 
The dog harness is made of inch-wide straps of skin, forming 
a neck or shoulder band, united on both sides by a strap to a 
girth, to one side of which the draught strap is fastened. 
Thanks to the excellent protection against the harness galling 
which the bushy coat of the dogs affords, little attention is 
needed for the harness, and I have never seen a single dog that 
was idle in consequence of sores from the harness. On the 
other hand, their feet are often hurt by the sharp snow. On 
^ Nearly all the travellers from a great distance who passed the Vega 
had their dogs harnessed in this way. On the other hand, Sarytschev says 
that at St. Lawrence Bay all the dogs were harnessed abreast, and that this 
was the practice at Moore’s winter quarters at Chukotskojnos is shown by 
the drawing at p. 71 of Hooper’s work, already quoted. We ought to 
remember that at both these places the population were Eskimos who 
had adopted the Chukch language. The Greenland Eskimo have their 
dogs harnessed abreast, the Kamchadales in a long row. Naturally dogs 
harnessed abreast are unsuitable for wooded regions. The different 
methods of harnessing dogs mentioned here, therefore, indicate that the 
Eskimo have lived longer than the Chukches north of the limit of trees. 
