December 1, 1909 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
35- 
The Young Folks. 
The Friend of Man : Some uses 
of the Dog. 
il_—The Eskimo Dog. 
Both the Eskimo dog and the Arctic 
Wolf are very much alike. The Eskimo 
dog has a sharp-pointed nose, pricked 
ars, and a long, bushy tail. Its height is 
about two feet and a half, and its colour 
is usually fawn or white, though it is 
Sometimes darker. The dog is found 
along the northern coasts of Asia and 
America, and in Kamschatka and the 
Kurile Islands. In many of the countries 
where itis found it is used by the Eskimos 
‘to draw their slodges; but in other places 
it is used simply forhunting The Cana- 
Gians at the fur stations around the shores 
of Hudson’s Bay also make use of these 
dogs for drawing their sledyes snd carioles 
the latter being a kind of sledge fitted 
With a little cradle or cot on which the 
traveller sits. 3 
The sledge-dogs, when not at work, are 
fed upon refuse; :but when they are on a 
Journey or about to commence one, they 
receive more wholesome food. like fish or 
Meat, Thoy are great thieves, and they 
will eat any scrap of leather or hide, 
Including moccasins, reins, or harness, 
When they are hungry. 
The sledge-dogs are carefully trained 
to their work. The training of those born 
I winter begins inthe following autumn; 
they are used only in short journeys at 
first, and not until their third year are 
they sent ont upon long ones. 
The Eskimo’s team usually numbers 
twelve dogs, the best trained being placed 
10 front as leaders. Sometimes a clever 
leader is made to run on in front, urhar- 
Nessed, to pick out the way for tho team. 
Tn Alaska the leader is harnessed to the 
Main trace and the others are attached to 
the same trace in pairs, but in Greenlacd 
ach dog is fastened to the sledge by its 
wntrace. The harness consists of straps 
oe Seal skin or bearskin placed round the 
dogs body, shoulders, and chest; in some 
egions the dog’s feet are put into fur - 
Shoes for protection. 
The work which these dogs will accom- 
plish when they are in good condition and 
well fed, issurprising. For short distances, 
when the road and weather were good, 
they have been known to travel from 60 
to 9) miles in a day. In Canada, a teain 
of three dogs, drawing a load of three 
hundred pounds, will usually run forty 
miles a day across level country, and will 
keep this speed for ten or twelve days in 
succession . 
The leaders are very clever in picking 
their way; a sledge road is at best only 
the beaten track which has been made in 
the snow by the passing of several sledges 
and wnen fresh snow falls it is soon 
hidden 
scent and also a kind of instinctive know- 
The Eskimo dog has a keen 
ledge of direction, and if he is travelling 
whero he has been before, he is rarely 
lost. The leaders can generally be 
trusted to take the sledge home and to 
stop at the right place. even though it be 
buried in snow. The dogs know, too, 
wheo they are walking on thin ice, and 
without any warning from their drivers 
they spread ont on each side, in order to 
distribute their weight over as large a 
surface as possible; they frequently do 
this before the driver discovers tiat there 
is any danger. 
The sledgo dog is just as clever when 
ho takes to bad ways’as he is in his work. 
The following incidents, taken from the 
narrative oi a traveller who made a sledge 
journey in Canada, will show the truth of 
this;— 
In the conrse of the journey the guido 
stopped to make a cache or store of pem- 
mican, which was to be opened on the 
return. Hecutahole in the ice some 
distanco from the track, and hung a bag 
of pemmicin in the water below by mean 
of.a leather thong and a stick, he filled 
up the hole with ice, poured water upon 
it and the intense cold froze it all solia 
More ice was placed upon the top and 
united in the same way, to form a mound 
to mark the spot. As the guide turned to 
go back to the sledge, he saw one or two of 
the dogs were watching him, the driver 
having released them under the idea that 
the camp was being formed, The guide 
knew by experience that. the dog would 
tell the others, as he said, and would get 
the pemmican if they could; he therefore 
pushed on for several miles before he 
allowed the camp to be formed. He 
counted the doys after supper, and, find- 
ing none missing, be and the travellers 
lay down to sleep 
On the followin: morning, several of 
the dogs could not be found, but their 
tracks were discovered Jeading in the 
direction of the cache, and there they 
found the dogs scratching sway at the ice 
They had sot made much impression 
when the men arrived, but they would 
persevere until they reached the pem- 
mican if they had not been disturbed. 
When the nizhts were very cold, the 
dogs buried themselves in the snow; in 
the morning they did not always answer 
their master’s whietle, and lay close in 
hiding, The only way of getting ready 
for the start was to unearth them one by 
-one; the men walked round the camp-fire 
in circles, making each one wider than 
the last, until they had discovered all 
the dogs by stumbling over them one by 
one. Each dog showed by his downcast. 
looks that he knew quite well how much 
trouble he hud caused. On one occasion 
the start was delayed for more than three 
hours by the dogs suilenly. hiding in this 
way. 
—W, A. Atkinson, in ‘The Prize,’ 
Conundrums. 
What is the difference between the 
soft pedal of a pisno and a doctor at an 
inquest ? | : 
One deadens sounds, and the other 
sounds dead uns. 
Poorer secsesseecesree 
Why is a hostelry of ill-repute like a 
a fiddle ? 
Because it’s a violin (vile inn). 
Why is a candle maker the most sinful 
-and unfortunate of men ? 
Because all his works are wicked, and 
all his wicked works are brought to 
light. 
SS 
