means uncommon,
the particles of snow which adhere to the feet of the dog form sharp
icicles between his toes, which grow larger and larger as he travels. A
nowing old hauler will stop every now and then, and tear out these
icicles with his teeth, but a young dog plods wearily along leaving his
footprints in crimson stains upon the snow behind him. When he comes into
camp, he lies down and licks his poor wounded feet, but the rest is only
for a short time, and the next start makes them worse than before. Now
comes the time for boots. The dog-boot is simply a fingerless glove drawn
on over the toes and foot, and tied by a running string of leather round
the wrist or ankle of the animal; the boot itself is either made of
leather or strong white cloth. Thus protected, the dog will travel for
days and days with wounded feet, and get no worse, in fact he will
frequently recover while still on the journey. Now Muskeymote, being a
young dog, had not attained to that degree of wisdom which induces older
dogs to drag the icicles from their toes, and consequently Muskeymote had
to be duly booted every morning--a cold operation it was too, and many a
run had I to make to the fire while it was being performed, holding my
hands into the blaze for a moment and then back again to the dog. Upon
arrival in camp these boots should always be removed from the dogs feet,
and hung up in the smoke of the fire, with moccassins of the men, to dry.
It was on an occasion when this custom had been forgotten that Muskeymote
performed the feat we have already mentioned, of eating his boots.

The night-camps along the lakes were all good ones; it took some time to
clear away the deep snow and to reach the ground, but wood for fire and
young spruce tops for bedding were plenty, and fifteen minutes axe work
sufficed to fell as many trees as our fire needed for night and morning.
From wooded point to wooded point we journeyed on over the frozen lakes;
the snow lying packed into the crevices and uneven places of the ice
formed a compact level surface, upon which the dogs scarce marked the
impress of their feet, and the sleds and cariole bounded briskly after
the train, jumping the little wavelets of hardened snow to the merry
jingling of innumerable bells. On snow such as this dogs will make a run
of forty miles in a day, and keep that pace for many days in succession,
but in the soft snow of the woods or the river thirty miles will form a
fair day's wor