106 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

When the dogs slackened their pace, the sight of a seal or
bird was sufficient to put them instantly to their full speed;
and even though: none of these might be seen on the ice,
the cry of ‘a seal!’—‘a bear!’—or ‘a bird!’ &c., was
enough to give play to the legs and voices of the whole pack.
The voice and long whip answer all the purposes of reins,
and the dogs can be made to turn a corner as dexterously
as horses, though not in such an orderly manner, since they
are constantly fighting; and I do not recollect to have seen
one receive a flogging without instantly wreaking his passion
on the ears of his neighbours. The cries of the men are
not more melodious than those of the animals; and their
wild looks and gestures when animated, give them an appear-
ance of devils driving wolves before them. Our dogs had
eaten nothing for forty-eight hours, and could not have gone
over less than seventy miles of ground; yet they retuned,
to all appearance, as fresh and active as when they first
set out.”

A Hard Bot. The unhappy condition of the Eskimo dogs
under native treatment is pathetically referred to in “Cassell’s
Natural History,” edited by Professor Duncan. The writer
says “the horrible savagery of those poor wretches can hardly
be wondered at; they live in a country where there is hardly
a chance for them in any independent foraging expedition;
they are half-starved by their masters, being fed chiefly on
frozen walrus hides in the winter, and allowed to shift for
themselves in the summer when their services are not required,
and are in so perennial and acute a state of hunger that
they are ready at any time to eat their own hamess if
allowed to do so. It is generally stated that they are per-
fectly insensible to kindness, and only to be kept in order
by a liberal application of the lash, or even of a more
formidable weapon; for the Eskimo, if their dogs are re-
fractory, do not scruple to beat them about the head with
a hammer, or anything else of sufficient hardness which