Page:Material Culture of the Iglulik Eskimos.djvu/99

ped. Most of the Iglulik Eskimos are exceedingly poor dog drivers; they shout at the dogs incessantly and at the same time use the whip quite mechanically, as when one is rowing a boat; and as a rule the whip strikes those nearest and these howl continually; as a consequence they are quite low spirited whilst the other dogs plod calmly along, untroubled by the driver's shouts and the whip; sometimes he will then rush forward and beat with the whip-handle some dog or other which he has picked out. It is seldom that a leader is thrashed once it has been trained.

If the dogs are tired the sledge comes to a stop on the slightest provocation, as soon as it meets a little additional resistance or the driver ceases his bawling for a moment; the dogs lie down and only a liberal application of the whip will make them get up again. If the sledge has stopped, it is started again by gathering up the traces and drawing them tight; then when the dogs advance again at a call the traces are dropped suddenly the resultant jerk sets the sledge going again; a kick at the sledge is often sufficient, however. If there are tracks which the sledge can run in, this always facilitates driving considerably and wide detours are often made in order to follow a track; if there are no tracks, the most skilful driver will often go first with the best team. If the dogs see anything dark lying in the snow in front — most often dog excrement — the speed increases tremendously in the hope that it is something eatable. The same thing happens when caribou or bear tracks are met with and it is often a difficult matter then to keep the dogs going in the right direction. If the sledge is to stop, the signal is called and all the dogs are made to lie down by letting the whip drop gently on to them.

When loaded, the sledge is steered by the driver who walks on the right of it at the front and, with his left hand, holds the lashing-thong; if there are many stones or the terrain is difficult, the wife or another man walks on the left side, holding the same thong. When the going is particularly difficult, as on pack-ice for instance, one usually walks on ahead and shows the dogs the way, two steer the sledge and one or more push behind. Ice bare of snow is avoided, as the ice shoeing breaks easily on this; on bare sea-ice the shoeing readily becomes soft owing to the salt. When driving down steep banks, the two who hold the lashing-thong brake the sledge. bracing their feet against the snow; the dog-team is kept out to the side by signals in order to avoid being crushed by the sledge if it should get up too much speed. Klutschak^[1] writes that when negotiating steep descents the dogs are out-spanned, and the sledge is