The best trained of the team eight

The best trained of the team eight

The best trained of the team eight

The best trained of the team (eight, twelve or more in number) is selected as a leader. They are guided by voice and whip, a loud "Brr-Brr" taking the place of our "Gee" in starting and the word "Sass-Sass" used as "Whoa." "Hi" and "He" for right and left, "Ho" to correct, or speed, as they are trained, of course. A good leader possesses the quality of rarely failing to lead one safely over any route once traveled by them, bringing you safely to the place even if buried under the snow.

They closely resemble a wolf and howl like one

They closely resemble a wolf and howl like one

They closely resemble a wolf and howl like one

They closely resemble a wolf and howl like one. Are of various colors and sizes, iron grey predominating. They average about two feet four inches in height by three feet six inches in length, of unusually light weight for their size, owing to the bristle out appearance of their hair which adds to their real size. As a rule females are killed at birth, except those few to suffice for breeding. Commence training at six months to a year old and when two or three years old and seasoned to work are considered prime and preferable for long heavy distant sledging and hunting.

Samoyed dogs or its Esquimaux cousin

Samoyed dogs or its Esquimaux cousin

Samoyed dogs or its Esquimaux cousin

The best of the "Sledge Dogs of the North" are to be found in Greenland or Siberia, "Samoyed" dogs or its Esquimaux cousin, the "Immit Dog", used by explorers and Esquimaux generally. Those with short, thick hair, medium build, size and full breed are considered the best for all around work. They will exist and work well on one pound of food per day, or a big feast once a week. Their food consists mostly of dried and fresh fish, carrion or fresh, or, if with explorers, dog biscuit added.

Drive half starved dogs to the sledge until they fell or froze

Drive half starved dogs to the sledge until they fell or froze

Drive half starved dogs to the sledge until they fell or froze

I have seen the Indians or natives of the northwest and the Esquimaux of Hudson's and Baffin's Bay, Greenland, etc., drive half starved dogs to the sledge until they fell or froze, only to be eaten by their masters or mates, whom for a lifetime they had pulled with or served faithfully. Necessity recognizes no law man is but an animal himself and in the struggle for life or gain it is everywhere but the "Survival of the Fittest" or strongest and passing of the weak, be it white man or Indian.

I have observed that the love of an Indian for his ponies

I have observed that the love of an Indian for his ponies

I have observed that the love of an Indian for his ponies

In my plains experience with the Indians or in the Polar Regions with the natives of the north or Esquimaux, I have observed that the love of an Indian for his ponies, an Esquimaux for his dogs or Laplander for his reindeer consists in seeing how much he really can get out of them with the least trouble or effort to him.

Natives of the north or Esquimaux

Natives of the north or Esquimaux

Natives of the north or Esquimaux

With all Indians, natives of the north or Esquimaux, knives are luxuries, ponies and dogs, necessities. Yet, for all that, they are never stabled, curried, washed, blanketed, shod, seldom protected or even fed. When the icy cold wintry blasts sweep the drifting snows over plain and valley and buries under his white mantle his food he either digs for it, finds and eats what he can, or starves.

What the Indian pony is to the plain Indian

What the Indian pony is to the plain Indian

What the Indian pony is to the plain Indian

What the Indian pony is to the plain Indian, the Pack Horse or Mule is to the White Settler, Hunter or Trapper, the Sledge Dog or Reindeer is to natives of the distant and Far North. An old saying among frontiersmen is that a white man will abandon a horse as broken down and utterly unable to go when a Mexican will take that same horse and make him go a hundred miles further, while an Indian after all of this will mount and ride him for a week still.

Sledge Dogs of The North.

Sledge Dogs of The North.

A Group of Typical Sledge Dogs.

Not a hunting dog in a strict sense of the word, yet most important in that connection, is the sledge dog, in transportation of hunters and their outfits to and from the hunting and trapping scenes.

Following is a first hand, specially written article by Colonel F. H. Buzzacott, the intrepid Arctic explorer. That he writes from experience is evident, which necessarily adds interest and value to his highly interesting contribution.

Not unfrequently did Pont show me a coon den

Not unfrequently did Pont show me a coon den

Not unfrequently did Pont show me a coon den

Not unfrequently did Pont show me a 'coon den. I had some difficulty in teaching Pont to let the porcupines alone, but after a time he learned that they were not the kind of game that he wanted, and he paid no more attention to them.

I have had many different dogs on the trap line with me, and I can say to any one who can understand dog's language, has a liking for a dog and has a reasonable amount of patience and is willing to use it, will find a well trained dog of much benefit on the trap line, and often a more genial companion than some partners one may fall in with. But if one is so constituted that he must give his dog a growl or a kick every time he comes in reach, and perhaps only give his dog half enough to eat and cannot treat a dog as a friend, then I say, leave the dog off the trap line.

And soon Pont began to wag his tail

And soon Pont began to wag his tail

And soon Pont began to wag his tail

As soon as Am was gone I began to look about where the fox had been caught and search for his trail, and soon Pont began to wag his tail. I merely worked Pont's way and said, "Has he gone that way?" Pont gave me to understand that the fox had gone that way and that he knew what was wanted. The trail soon left the main hollow and took up a little draft. A little way up this we found where the fox had been fast in some bushes but had freed himself and left and gone up the hillside. Pont soon began to get uneasy, and when I said hunt him out Pont, away he went and in a few minutes I heard Pont give a long howl and I knew that he had holed his game. When I came up to Pont he was working in a hole in some shell rocks. I pulled away some loose rocks and could see the fox, and we soon had him out, and Pont seemed more pleased over the hunt than I was. There was scarcely a week that Pont did not help us out on the trap line.