or arctic traveling. On a level surface this sledge
will support ten or twelve hundred pounds.

The Eskimos have used their own type of sledge from time immemorial.
When they had no wood, before the advent of the white man, they made
their sledges of bone--the shoulder-blades of the walrus, and the ribs
of the whale, with deer antlers for up-standers.

For dog harnesses, I have adopted the Eskimo pattern, but have used
different material. The Eskimo harness is made of sealskin--two loops
joined by a cross strip at the back of the neck and under the throat.
The dog's forelegs pass through the loops, and the ends are joined over
the small of the back, where the trace is attached. This harness is very
simple and flexible, and it allows the dog to exert his whole strength.
The objection to sealskin as a harness material is a gastronomic one.
When the dogs are on short rations they eat their harnesses at night in
camp. To obviate this difficulty, I use for the harnesses a special
webbing or belting, about two or two and a half inches in width, and
replace the customary rawhide traces of the Eskimos by a braided linen
sash cord.

The dogs are hitched to the sledge fanwise. The standard team is eight
dogs; but for rapid traveling with a heavy load, ten or twelve are
sometimes used. They are guided by the whip and the voice. The Eskimo
whip has a lash sometimes twelve, sometimes eighteen, feet long, and so
skilful are the Eskimos in its manipulation that they can send the lash
flying through the air and reach any part of any particular dog they
wish. A white man can learn to use an Eskimo whip, but it takes time. It
takes time also to acquire the exact Eskimo accent to the words
"_How-eh, how-eh, how-eh_," meaning to the right; "_Ash-oo, ash-oo,
ash-oo_," to the left; as well as the standard, "_Huk, huk, huk_," which
is equivalent to "go on." Sometimes, when the dogs do not obey, the
usual "_How-eh, how-eh, how-eh_," will reverse its accent, and the
driver will yell, "_How-ooooooo_," with an accompaniment of other words
in Eskimo and English which shall be left to the imagination of the
reader. The temperature of a new man trying to drive a team of Eskimo
dogs is apt to be pretty high. One is almost inclined to believe with
the Eskimos that demons take possession of these animals. Sometimes they
seem to be quite crazy. A favorite trick of theirs is to leap over and
under and around each other, getting their traces in a snarl