Dog packs.
Such dogs as are not employed in pulling very often carry packs on their backs, as shown in the annexed illustration; these should be at all times very light, and the girths and breast strap wide enough to prevent undue pressure. We have seen the Tartars pack their dogs by placing a broad band of sheepskin with the wool inside round the dog, fasten it with loops and toggles, fit on a breast strap of the same material in the same way, and then secure the load to the girth by passing thongs through a set of bone rings sewn in for the purpose. The thongs pass across the load, and go through the rings on the opposite side, and thus secure the pack without compressing the dog, as shown in the accompanying illustration.
Horse sledges.
Field artillery sledges.
When horses are used for sledge drawing it is no uncommon practice to attach them to a conveyance formed by mounting a common carriage body on runners. We have seen the Russians use a most convenient and durable sledge body; it was formed of strong wicker work, strengthened by stringers of light wood, bound with lashings of raw hide. The runners were faced with steel, and the horses, three in number, worked abreast; that in the centre having a sort of arch or hoop over his neck. Bells should be used on all sledge teams, as the sledge glides along so noiselessly that collisions would be frequent without the cheerful warning note of the bells, which can be heard at a great distance in the clear frosty air. It is not our intention here to enter on the subject of sledges, as used by the sledge clubs for amusement or display, as they are not within our province. Field artillery sledges. Field artillery can be easily worked on the surface of frozen lakes and rivers, by attaching runners instead of wheels to the guns and waggons. The recoil of guns, when fired from sledge runners, is often considerable, and many modes are adopted to govern it. The best makeshift plan we know is to prepare two long thick straw mats for each gun sledge, and before laying the gun, raise the breech ends of the runners by handspike power, to a sufficient height to admit of the mats being drawn well under them, when the handspike may be withdrawn, and the runners allowed to rest on the mats. A species of rough basket work formed from pine branches will answer the same purpose.
The reindeer sledge.
The reindeer is a most valuable animal for sledge drawing, and, from the immense number of animals of this description kept in a state of partial domestication in the north (it has been roughly computed that in Lapland alone there are 100,000), extensive use is made of them as beasts of burden, some being used as pack animals, and others worked on the snow in the form of sledge (represented in the opposite illustration) known as the kerres.
