CHAPTER V 
MAKING PEAUY SLEDGES HUNTING IN THE 
ARCTIC NIGHT THE EXCITABLE DOGS 
AND THEIR HABITS 
T HAVE been busy making sledges, sledges 
-■^ of a different pattern from those used 
heretofore, and it is expected that they will 
answer better than the Esquimo type of open- 
work sledge, of the earlier expeditions. These 
sledges have been designed by Commander 
Peary and I have done the work. 
The runners are longer, and are curved up- 
wards at each end, so that they resemble the 
profile of a canoe, and are expected to rise over 
the inequalities of the ice much better than the 
old style. Lashed together with sealskin 
thongs, about twelve feet long, by two feet 
wide and seven inches high, the load can be 
spread along their entire length instead of 
being piled up, and a more even distribution 
of the weights is made. The Esquimos, used 
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