destroy that zealous allegiance. The dog in Alaska is
absolutely dependent upon man for subsistence, and he seems to realise
it.

There is a great deal of cruelty and brutality amongst dog drivers in
Alaska. At times, it is true, most dogs need some punishment. Dogs
differ as much as men do, and some are lazy and some are self-willed.
The best of them will develop bad trail habits if they are allowed
to--habits which will prove hard to break by and by and be a continual
source of delay and annoyance until broken. But a very slight
punishment, judicially administered at the moment, will usually suffice
just as well as a severe one, and the main source of brutality in the
punishment of dogs is sheer bad temper on the part of the driver, and
has for its only possible end, not the correction of the animal's fault
but the satisfaction of its owner's rage. To see some hulking,
passionate brute lashing a poor little dog with a chain, or beating him
with a club; to see dogs overworked to utter exhaustion and their
lagging steps still hastened by a rain of blows, these are the sickening
sights of the trail--and they are not uncommon. The language of most dog
drivers to their dogs consists of a mixture of cursing and ribaldry,
excused by the statement that only by the use of such speech may dogs be
driven at all. But there is little point in the excuse; such speech is,
to an extent not far from universal, the speech of the country. Swedes
who have little and Indians who have none other English will yet be
volubly profane and obscene; in the latter case often with complete
ignorance of the meaning of the terms. Yet it must be recorded not
ungratefully by the impartial observer that the rare presence of a
decent woman or a clergyman will almost always put a check upon
blackguardly speech, even that of a dog driver; women and clergymen
being supposed the only two classes who could have any possible
objection to foulness of mouth. To refer continually to the excrements
of the body, to sexual commerce, natural and unnatural, all in the
grossest terms, and to mix these matters intimately with the sacred
names, is "manly" speech amongst a large part of the population of
Alaska.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: REINDEER]

[Sidenote: REINDEER AS DRAUGHT ANIMALS]

It has been claimed with justice that the introduction of the reindeer
into Alaska has been highly successful; yet there is much misconception
amongs