In a barren region where firewood is not to be had, it will be necessary to carry an alcohol or kerosene burner and stock of fuel. The former is preferable on account of the low freezing point of alcohol. Alcohol or oil should be secured in tin cases. It is regularly put up in this way by dealers.
In such a region, too, it may be necessary to carry snow knives with which to cut blocks of snow for the erection of snow igloos as shelter. These knives resemble somewhat the machete. One cannot, however, learn to build a snow igloo properly without long practice. This phase of the work is merely referred to as interesting; for anyone traveling in a country where snow house shelter is necessary will secure the assistance of a native, who will attend to proper sledge outfitting at the point of departure.
On regular lines of dog travel opportunities to renew the provision supply will frequently occur, and cabins for night shelter will be found. Therefore the food outfit will depend upon the country to be traversed. Where long stretches occur between supply points, however, fat pork, pilot bread, tea and sugar should form the basis. The very best possible food, however, for this work is pemmican, pilot bread, tea and sugar. Of course a little coffee may be carried, but it is bulky.
The traveler will make his selection carefully, building around pork, pilot bread and pemmican with other articles of food like desiccated vegetables from which water has been eliminated. Too much salt meat opens the door to scurvy, unless sufficient variation in the way of vegetables, fish, or fresh meat is introduced. Dessicated cranberries are an excellent preventive. A man can do good hard work day in and day out, as already stated, upon one pound of pemmican and a quarter pound of pilot bread as a daily ration, and such a ration offers no danger of scurvy.
Dog pemmican is the best dog food, and the lightest, for dogs will do pretty well upon one pound of pemmican each a day. To do well the animals should be given plenty of fat, when pemmican is not available, though not a clear fat diet, for that will make them sick. Three-quarters of a pound of fat and three-quarters of a pound of meat or fish is an ordinary ration. Dogs are fed but once a day—at night.
The number of dogs in a team varies, but the average team is composed of seven or eight. Eight or nine is the most economical number so far as results are concerned.
In the Northwest dogs are harnessed tandem. This is the white man's method. In the Northeast they are harnessed fan fashion—the Eskimo method. That is to say, each dog has an individual trace secured to the end of a single thong, leading out from the bow of the komatik and called the bridle. The individual traces are of various lengths. The dog with the longest trace is the leader of the pack, and particularly trained to respond to the driver's directions. The other dogs will follow his lead.
For open country and sea ice travel the Eskimo method is probably best, as the work is more evenly distributed and the driver can always tell whether each dog is doing his share of the work, but for narrow trails and woods travel the tandem method is more practicable.
Dogs are good, bad and indifferent. One seldom has an opportunity to pick one's dogs discriminately, and rarely may one purchase them outright unless contracted for a year in advance, for the native dog owner seldom maintains animals in excess of his requirements in the ordinary routine of his life. The traveler will usually be able, however, to hire a team by employing the owner to drive it, and the owner of a team will get much more work out of his dogs than a stranger to the dogs can hope to do.