As a matter of fact, the Eskimo dog is absolutely the only motor for polar work, and will remain so until superseded by the aëroplane.
These sturdy, magnificent dogs can do a greater amount of work on less food than any other animal. They eat meat and meat only, and for water they eat snow. Even a month-old puppy is hardy enough to stand the coldest weather, and it is not necessary to house them at any season of the year. In appearance as well as in usefulness they are remarkable creatures. The males weigh on an average from eighty to one hundred pounds, the females of course being rather smaller. These dogs, said by some scientists to be descendants of the arctic wolf, are of one breed only, but are found in a variety of markings and colors, gray, black, yellow, brown, and mottled. The pure blooded type dogs are marked like the arctic white wolf. In my opinion there is no handsomer dog to be found than one of these Eskimo dogs, with its pointed muzzle, sharp-pointed ears, and wide-set eyes, shaggy coat, and bushy tail, and as a rule they are obedient and affectionate as any dog.
ESKIMO KING DOG
In purchasing dogs at Cape York I have always secured enough to allow for the loss of sixty per cent. of them by accident or sickness. It is impossible to count on the length of an Eskimo dog’s life. They will go through the severest hardships, work hard on almost nothing to eat, and stand exposure to the worst storms, and then with plenty to eat, nothing to do, will suddenly die or be taken with piblokto, a malady which has threatened at times to completely cripple my expeditions and to wipe out one of the most valuable resources of the Eskimos, and for which there is no known remedy. A victim of this dread disorder refuses all nourishment and howls and snaps, biting any other dog it comes in contact with, and often dies of convulsions the same day it is attacked.
CHAPTER VIII
UTILIZING THE RESOURCES OF THE COUNTRY
One of the basic principles of all my polar expeditions has been to depend upon the country itself for the fresh-meat supply. To this fact is due the entire absence of scurvy on all my voyages. Contrary to a general idea, the polar regions of northern Greenland, Ellesmere Land, and Grant Land have for the experienced hunter a considerable and most attractive fauna, and while there are certain parts where it is virtually impossible to find even so much as a stray polar hare, there are other regions where a very fair amount of meat can be obtained in a comparatively short time by those knowing how, and acquainted with polar topography and the habits of polar animals.
The polar bill of fare includes fish, flesh, and fowl in considerable variety. The walrus and seal of the Eskimo are, of course, known to every child. Both furnish a strong and healthy diet, but few white men become really fond of it. There are, however, other animals in the region which furnish delicacies that would grace the table of the finest hotel in any great city, as the musk-ox, reindeer, and polar hare. Polar bear, if young, makes a very acceptable steak. At any age the meat is not at all disagreeable when frozen and eaten raw.
Of the sea animals, in addition to the walrus and the ringed or floe-seal, there are the harp- and the square-flipper-seal, the flesh of both of which possesses a much less pronounced bouquet than the walrus and the floe-seal.
Of birds there are various kinds; the most abundant are the little auks, and next the Brunnich’s guillemot. Then there are the eider-duck, the long-tailed duck, the brant, and the king-eider. It is possible also in some localities to get an occasional mess of ptarmigan, the arctic white grouse. The various species of gulls are considered fine eating by the Eskimos, but they are a bit rank to the white man.