low zero, drive him with heavy loads until his
feet crack open and stain the snow with blood, or starve him until
he eats up his harness; but his strength and his spirit seem alike
unconquerable. I have driven a team of nine dogs more than a hundred
miles in a day and a night, and have frequently worked them hard for
forty-eight hours without being able to give them a particle of food.
In general they are fed once a day, their allowance being a single
dried fish, weighing perhaps a pound and a half or two pounds. This
is given to them at night, so that they begin another day's work with
empty stomachs.

The sledge, or _nart_, to which they are harnessed is about ten
feet in length and two in width, made of seasoned birch timber, and
combines to a surprising degree the two most desirable qualities of
strength and lightness. It is simply a skeleton framework, fastened
together with lashings of dried sealskin, and mounted on broad, curved
runners. No iron whatever is used in its construction, and it does not
weigh more than twenty pounds; yet it will sustain a load of four or
five hundred pounds, and endure the severest shocks of rough mountain
travel. The number of dogs harnessed to this sledge varies from seven
to fifteen, according to the nature of the country to be traversed and
the weight of the load. Under favourable circumstances eleven dogs
will make from forty to fifty miles a day with a man and a load of
four hundred pounds. They are harnessed to the sledge in successive
couples by a long central thong of sealskin, to which each individual
dog is attached by a collar and a short trace. They are guided and
controlled entirely by the voice and by a lead-dog who is especially
trained for the purpose. The driver carries no whip, but has instead a
stick about four feet in length and two inches in diameter, called
an _oerstel_ (oar'-stel). This is armed at one end with a long iron
spike, and is used to check the speed of the sledge in descending
hills, and to stop the dogs when they leave the road, as they
frequently do in pursuit of reindeer and foxes. The spiked end is then
thrust down in front of one of the knees or uprights of the runners,
and drags in that position through the snow, the upper end being
firmly held by the driver. It is a powerful lever, and when skilfully
used brakes up a sledge very promptly and effectively.

[Illustration: TOWARD NIGHT; A TIRED DOG-TEAM
From a painting by George A. Frost]

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