With a twelve-dog team, harnessed in this manner, a high rate of speed may be gained. Six measured miles have been run over a tolerably good surface in twenty-eight minutes. The direction and speed of the team are regulated partly by the voice, but mainly by the whip; and, as this instrument is so important and difficult to handle, we cannot resist giving the reader the benefit of the experience of Dr. Kane, than whom few have had greater experience in dog-sledge management. He thus describes the whip he used for his teams. “The whip is 6yds. long, and the handle but 16in., a short lever by which to throw out such a length of seal hide. Learn to do it, however, with a masterly sweep, or else make up your mind to forego driving a sledge, for the dogs are guided solely by the lash; and you must be able, not only to hit any particular dog out of the team of twelve, but to accompany the feat also with a resounding crack. After this, you find that to get your lash back involves another difficulty, for it is apt to entangle itself among the dogs and lines, or to fasten itself cunningly round bits of ice so as to drag you head over heels into the snow. The secret by which this complicated set of requirements is fulfilled consists in properly describing an arc from the shoulder, with a stiff elbow, giving the jerk to the whip handle from the hand and wrist alone. The lash trails behind as you travel, and when thrown forward is allowed to extend itself, without an effort to bring it back. You wait patiently after giving the projectile impulse until it unwinds its slow length, reaches the end of its tether, and cracks to tell you that it is at its journey’s end. Such a crack on the ear or forefoot of an unfortunate dog is signalised by a howl quite unmistakable in its import. The mere labour of using this whip is such that the Esquimaux travel in couples, one sledge after the other. The hinder dogs follow mechanically and thus require no whip, and the drivers change about so as to rest each other.
SMOOTHING ROUGH RUNNERS.
Esquimaux sledges and expedients.
Many of the Esquimaux sledges are most ingeniously constructed—some being formed of light slabs of bone, lashed together with sinew and shod with runners composed of highly-polished walrus ivory. Should the surface of the runners become roughened from any cause, the Esquimaux fills his mouth with water, and then, by contracting his cheeks as in the act of blowing a trumpet, forces the water in a strong jet over the face of the runner. A coat of thin ice instantly forms, and becomes frozen firmly to the bone, producing a coating like that of glass. The above illustration will serve to show how this operation is conducted.
Sledge log, to make.
To estimate the speed at which a sledge is travelling, a log must be used. This is constructed as follows: A wooden reel and spindle, such as shown in the annexed engraving, must be made; round this the log line is coiled, leaving a free end for the log or weight, which may consist of a piece of scrap iron or a stone, to be attached to. About 20yds. from the log a bit of red rag should be knotted to the line; then at every 50ft. knot in a bit of seal hide. When about to use the log line, cast the weight well clear of the sledge, let the reel give off the line freely until the red rag is free. Directly that is off the coil, turn your half-minute glass up, and let the sand run, and when it is all down, stop the reel. It will be then seen, by the following calculation, what the speed has been. As 120 times half a minute make one hour, and 120 times 50ft. make very nearly a geographical mile, so many bits of hide will run clear of the revolving reel as the sledge travels miles in the hour.
