s yoked to the vehicle by the neck, and three other dogs
are harnessed along with him. He is the chief, and all the other dogs with
their carts follow his guidance and stop when he stops. The master of this
animal never ill-uses him nor scolds him, and at feeding-time the dogs are
always served before the men. If this be not attended to, the chief of the
dogs will get sulky and run off, leaving the master to perdition" (II.
399-400).

[Mr. Parker writes (_China Review_, xiv. p. 359), that dog-sledges appear
to have been known to the Chinese, for in a Chinese poem occurs the line:
"Over the thick snow in a dog-cart."--H.C.]

The bigness attributed to the dogs by Polo, Ibn Batuta, and Rubruquis, is
an imagination founded on the work ascribed to them. Mr. Kennan says they
are simply half-domesticated Arctic wolves. Erman calls them the height of
European spaniels (qu. setters?), but much slenderer and leaner in the
flanks. A good draught-dog, according to Wrangell, should be 2 feet high
and 3 feet in length. The number of dogs attached to a sledge is usually
greater than the old travellers represent,--none of whom, however, had
_seen_ the thing.

Wrangell's account curiously illustrates what Ibn Batuta says of the Old
Dog who guides: "The best-trained and most intelligent dog is often yoked
in front.... He often displays extraordinary sagacity and influence over
the other dogs, e.g. in keeping them from breaking after game. In such a
case he will sometimes turn and bark in the opposite direction; ... and in
crossing a naked and boundless _tundra_ in darkness or snow-drift he will
guess his way to a hut that he has never visited but once before" (I.
159). Kennan also says: "They are guided and controlled entirely by the
voice and by a lead-dog, who is especially trained for the purpose." The
like is related of the Esquimaux dogs. (_Kennarts Tent Life in Siberia_,
pp. 163-164; _Wood's Mammalia_, p. 266.)

NOTE 4.--On the _Erculin_ and _Ercolin_ of the G.T., written Arculin in
next chapter, _Arcolino_ of Ramusio, _Herculini_ of Pipino, no light is
thrown by the Italian or other editors. One supposes of course some animal
of the ermine or squirrel kinds affording valuable fur, but I can find no
similar name of any such animal. It may be the Argali or Siberian Wild
Sheep, which Rubruquis mentions: "I saw another kind of beast which is
called _Arcali_; its body is just like a ram's, and its horns spiral like
a ram's also, onl