MUSK OX TRACKS. 
125 
merits is fulfilled consists in properly describing an arc 
from the shoulder, with a stiff elbow, giving the jerk to 
the whip-handle from the hand and wrist alone. The 
lash trails behind as you travel, and when thrown for¬ 
ward is allowed to extend itself without an effort to 
bring it back. You wait patiently after giving the pro¬ 
jectile impulse until it unwinds its slow length, reaches 
the end of its tether, and cracks to tell you that it is 
at its journey’s end. Such a crack on the ear or fore¬ 
foot of an unfortunate dog is signalized by a howl quite 
unmistakeable in its import. 
“ The mere labor of using this whip is such that the 
Esquimaux travel in couples, one sledge after the other. 
The hinder dogs follow mechanically, and thus require 
no whip; and the drivers change about so as to rest 
each other. 
“ I have amused myself, if not my dogs, for some days 
past with this formidable accessory of Arctic travel. I 
have not quite got the knack of it yet, though I might 
venture a trial of cracking against the postillion college 
of Lonjumeau. 
“October 9, Sunday.—Mr. Petersen shot a hare yes¬ 
terday. They are very scarce now, for he travelled 
some five hours without seeing another. He makes the 
important report of musk ox tracks on the recent snow. 
Hr. Richardson says that these are scarcely distinguish¬ 
able from the reindeer’s except by the practised eye: 
he characterizes them as larger, but not wider. The 
tracks that Petersen saw had an interesting confirma¬ 
tion of their being those of the musk ox, for they were 
