Report on the Dominion Government Expedition to Hudson Bay and the Arctic Islands on board the D.G.S. Neptune, 1903-1904

by A. P. Low

While the women are arranging the interior of the snowhouse, the men are busy unharnessing the dogs, feeding them with large lumps of seal or other meat, or with fish, which the dogs devour ravenously after their twenty-four hours’ fast. The harness and other things liable to be eaten by the dogs are either hung out of reach or taken into the house. If the night is stormy a couple of blocks of snow are put to windward of the hole from which they are taken, thus making a shelter for each dog. Many of the dogs disdain such shelter, and on the coldest stormy nights lie curled upon the highest place available, evidently preferring the cold to being drifted under by the snow in the holes prepared for them. The Eskimo, as a rule, is very considerate to his dogs, and only treats them violently at rare intervals. Then he uses the long heavy dog-whip to some purpose, and the dogs retain for all time the remembrance of it.

When more than one family live in a house, each has its independent lamp, and the family cooking is kept separate. Seals and other food are, to some extent, common property; that is, if an Eskimo kills an animal when alone, he divides it amongst his neighbours, who return the compliment. When hunting in company the customs vary with the animal killed and with the tribes; there is a great deal of etiquette observed, and as a rule each member of the party is entitled to some portion of the carcass.

The dog-sled on the east coast of Hudson bay, where driftwood is abundant, varies in length from twelve to twenty feet, sixteen feet being an average length. The runner is usually formed of one piece the length of the sled, but in the north, where wood is very scarce, the sled is shorter, and the runners are frequently formed of two or more pieces spliced and lashed together with seal line. Where wood cannot be obtained, whalebones form a substitute, and even ice is sometimes used as sled-runners.

The runners vary from two to three inches in thickness, and are four to eight inches deep. They are placed about fifteen inches apart, thus forming a long narrow sled. They are joined by a number of cross-bars, which vary from three to six inches in width and are about an inch thick. They are placed close together when possible, and cover the space between the runners extending from the rear end for two-thirds the length of the sled. These cross-pieces are securely lashed to the runners with seal-line, no nails being used in the construction of the sled. The ends of the bars project a short distance outside the runners, and are there nicked for the lash-line with which the load is secured to the sled. The runners are shod with ivory, bone from the jaw of the whale, or with hoop iron or steel. Shoeing made of pieces of walrus ivory is most prized. The ivory is cut into slabs about a half an inch thick; holes are bored through the slabs at intervals of about an inch, and the slabs are attached to the runner by wooden pegs through these holes. The slabs are rarely more than eight inches long, and a great deal of ingenuity is often displayed in the fitting of them to cover the bottom of the runner. An ivory-shod sled is one the most valuable possessions of an Eskimo.

When whalebone is used it is attached to the runner in the same manner as ivory; that is, with small wooden pegs, but the slabs of bone are usually several feet in length. Iron or steel are bad substitutes for bone or ivory, as they offer much more friction in cold weather when the snow is fine and gritty.

Loaded Sleds from Chesterfield Inlet.

During the period of intense cold, lasting from December to April, the shoeing of the sled is of mud or lichens, frozen over the regular shoeing. The best material for this purpose is the dark brown peaty muck formed from the decay of mosses in swamps. Where this cannot be obtained, the white reindeer moss is mixed to a thick paste with water. This shoeing is attached to the runners in the following manner:—when cotton rags are available, these are wetted and frozen to the bottom of the runner, so as to cover the shoeing and extend a couple of inches up both sides of the runner. The muck, which has been boiled to a thick paste, is then applied warm over the cloth, and is roughly shaped by hand, so as to have a thickness of about an inch, with a section resembling the bulb of a heavy steel rail. After being roughly shaped, the muck is allowed to freeze hard, when it is worked over with a wood plane, and the inequalities are reduced to a smooth surface. It is then covered with a thin film of ice, either by lightly running a rag wet with warm fresh water over the surface, or by squirting a small even stream from the mouth. Great care is taken to have the iceing uniform, and every portion of the muck covered. This coating of ice is renewed every morning, and a sled so shod slips over the intensely cold snow with much less friction than when shod in any other known manner. As the weather gets warmer this muck is removed, and the ivory, bone or iron shoeing used.

The number of dogs in the team varies from eight to two or three, an average team being six. Each dog has a separate trace. The harness is formed of two loops of sealskins, which pass under the forelegs, and are sewn together on the breast and joined by a strip about four inches long over the shoulders, thus forming an opening for the head. The loops are brought together in the middle of the back, and the trace is there attached to their united ends. The trace is made of a single length of line cut from the skin of the Big seal (Phoca barbata), and varies in length from ten to thirty feet. The traces are regulated in length, so that the dogs when pulling straight ahead have the leading dog about two yards in advance, and the others in pairs about a yard behind each other. The traces are made long in order that the dogs may not be massed in passing rough or thin ice, and for the same reason the traces are not fastened to the front of the sled, but to a loop of walrus line which is attached at the first bar, or nearly a third of the length back. By this means the sled is easily turned, and allowed to run at a considerable angle to the direction in which the dogs are travelling; advantage is thus taken of the smoothest places when journeying along the broken ice piled upon the shores. The use of individual traces is not without its drawbacks. While travelling the dogs constantly cross from side to side among themselves, and weave their traces into a single rope. Stops must be made every few hours to untangle the traces. The long trace is also constantly fouling hummocks while passing over rough ice; when this occurs the dog is pulled back to the sled by the fouled trace, and if he does not get hurt physically, at least his pride is offended, so that, when freed, he usually has a little unpleasantness with every dog he passes to regain his place in the team. The leading dog answers more or less satisfactorily to the word of command, and is followed by the other dogs. The usual commands are to swing right or left, to start and to stop. The dogs are very acute of hearing, and the words are usually given in a low tone. When a dog is to receive punishment he is pulled back in the team and his shortened trace made fast to the sled; the driver can then give his undivided attention to the whip. A great deal of dexterity is shown in using the whip, and a lot of time is spent practising with it. A good whip handler knows at least four or five different cuts, and can hit within an inch or so anywhere inside the length of the long lash. The blow is terrific.