The rue ruddy.
The rue ruddy is a broad band of double canvas or skin with the edges sewn in, and the bearing joints padded and stuffed with hair. A loop is formed at the point at which the track rope is attached, through this the toggle of the line is passed. When an extra man is attached to a line, a spare toggle is attached to it by a timber hitch, as shown in the illustration here given. A short mast and small square sail can be used with great advantage when the wind is fair. Kites would also facilitate the passage of sledges over comparatively smooth ice.
Dog sledge and harness.
The dog sledge is a most valuable and important accessory to northern travel, and without its assistance the Esquimaux hunter and Arctic explorer would be at times almost helpless. The form of the dog sledge, and the manner of harnessing the dogs, varies according to the customs of the countries in which it is used and the period of the year when its aid is required. We shall, therefore, confine ourselves to a description of such as are most likely to be of value to the European traveller, leaving him to select the form of harness best suited to his particular tastes. Dog harness is usually made from strips of sealskin sewn together with threads formed from sinew. Some drivers make use of one trace, others prefer two. The most common plan is to lead two traces, so to speak, into one, as shown in the above illustration. Many drivers of great experience work their dogs abreast when the single trace arrangement is adopted. Others use a leader, harnessed ahead of the other dogs.
Dr. Hayes, the Arctic explorer, thus writes regarding his dogs: “We harness them each with a single trace, and these traces are of a length to suit the fancy of the driver, the longer the better, for they are then not so easily tangled. The draught of the outside dogs is more direct, and if the team comes on thin ice and breaks through, your chances of escape from immersion are in proportion to their distance from you. The traces are all of the same length, and hence the dogs run side by side, and, when properly harnessed, their heads are in a line. My traces are so measured that the shoulders of the dogs are just 20ft. from the foremost part of the runners.”
HELPING THE DOGS.
Speed and the whip.