Page:Material Culture of the Iglulik Eskimos.djvu/94

sewn. Lyon^[1] says that the whips have a handle of one foot and a lash of 18–24 feet.

The dogs are of the usual Eskimo breed and do not differ much, in appearance, from the Greenland dogs. There is, however, a considerable difference in the size; some Eskimos pay especial attention to the breeding of big dogs, as for instance Ilupalik and his family at Ingnertoq where I saw the biggest dogs. The colour varies greatly: white, black, yellowish, reddish-brown and the greyish-brown colour that is called singarnaq.

As a rule the Iglulik Eskimos have not many dogs; only a few have teams of ten dogs or more, even in years when distemper has not done great ravage; as in 1922–23. The usual number owned by a family is four to six; on journeys it is therefore a common occurrence that two families share one sledge. The reason why they have so few dogs is the difficulty of procuring food for them, especially during the caribou-hunting season. In this respect the Iglulingmiut themselves are in the best position as they oftenest have big stores of walrus meat; and as a consequence it is among them that one finds the biggest and best dog-teams.

As Parry^[2] expresses it. the dogs are treated "as an unfeeling master does his slaves; that is, they take just as much care of them as their own interest is supposed to require." Only as pups are they treated well; this, however, is necessary if they are to live at all. A small snow or ice house^[3] or a little shelter of stone is often built for a bitch with pups; or it may be taken into the dwelling house where the pups remain during the first few weeks and are fed on the best — if there is food to give them, Bitches with young sometimes have the lower part of the body protected by a piece of skin. One of these, from Igluliks, Qajûvfik, is of caribou skin, 36 × 36 cm, and at the edges has a number of straps, mostly of sealskin, and one or two longer cords for tying. The pups are not very old, however, before the children get them to play with and they treat them by no means gently, put harness on them and thrash them with toy whips, sticks, etc; it hardly ever happens, however, that the pups bite the children. If the pups are to travel while still small, they are put into a caribou-skin bag which is fastened on to the sledge; if they are big, they are tied on without being packed in. When they are about two months old they can already begin to be harnessed to the sledge; even if they cannot do much good, they can become accustomed to the harness and to obey; they often have to be whipped terribly before they learn this.

The fully grown dogs are always very harshly treated, seldom