The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1867-06-27
An Esauimaux Dog Team.


and fine sledge. The animals arc in
most excellent condition, every one of
them strong and healthy, and they are
very fleet. They whirl my Greenland
sledge over the ice with a celebrity not cal
culated for weak nevres. | have not un-
usually ridden behind them over six mea-
sured miles in 3S minutes and without
stopping to blow the teams have return
ed over the track in 49, Stonetag and |
had race, and beat him by four min
utes should like to have some of my
friends of Saratoga and Point Breeze up
here to show them new style of speed
ing animals. Our racers do not require
any blanketing after the heats, or spong-
ing either We harness them each with
single trace, and these traces are Of
length to suit the fancy of the driver
the longer the better, for they are not SO
easily tangled, the draft of the outside
dogs is more direct, and, if the team comes
upon thin ice, and brakes through, your
chance of escape from immersion are in
proportion to their distance from you
The traces are all of the same length,
hence the dogs run side by side, and when
properly harnessed their heads are in a
line My traces are so measured that the
shoulders of the dogs are just twenty feet
from the forward part of the runners.
The team is guided solely bSthe whip
and voice. The strongest dogs are placed
on the outside, and the whole team is
swayed to right and left according as the
whip falls to the one side or other, or as
it touches the leading dogs, as it is sure
to do if they do not obey the gentle hint
with sufficient alacrity. The voice aids
the whip, but in all emergencies the whip
is the only real reliance. Your control
over your team is exactly in proportion to
your skill in the use of it. The lash is
about four feet longer than the traces,
and is tipped with "cracker" of hard
sinew, with which skillful driver can
draw blood if so inclined, and he can
touch either of the animals on any parti-
cular spot that may suit his purpose
Jensen had to-day young refractory dog
in the team, aud having had his patience
quite exhausted, he resolved upon extreme
measures. "You see that beast" said he,
81 takes piece out of his ear" and sure
enough, crack went the whip, the hard
sinew wound round the tip of the ear and
shipped it off as nicely as with knife
The long lash, which is but thin, taper
ing strip of raw seal skin, is swung with a
whip stock only two and half feet long
1t is very light and consequently hard to
handle. The peculiar turn of the wrist
necessary to get 1t rolled out to its desti-
nation, is a most difficult undertaking. 1t
requires long and patient practice. | have
preserved, and my perseverance has been
rewarded; and if am obliged to turn dri-
yer on an emergency, | feel equal to the
task but L fervently hope that the en-
ergency may not arise which.requires me
to exhibit nay skill
1t is the very hardest kind of work =
That merciless lash must be merciless or
it is Of no avail. The dogs are quick to
detect the least weakness of the driver and
measure him on the instant. If not
Thoroughly convienccd that the soundness
of their skin is quite at his mercy, they
go where they please. If they see fox
crossing the ice, or come upon bear
track, or "wind" seal, or sight bird,
away they dash over snowdrafts and hum
mock, pricking up their long bushy tails
for wild, wol6sh race after the game
If the whip lash goes out with fierce
snap, the ears and tail dro p and they go
on about their proper business but woe
be unto you if they get the control. l
have seen my own driver sorely put to his
metal, and not until he had brought
yell of pain from almost every dog in the
team, did he conquer their obstinancy.-
They were running after fox, and were
taking us toward what was unsafe ice
The wind was blowing hard, and the lash
was sometimes driven back into the dri-
ver's face-heDoe the difficulty. The,
whip, however, finally brought them to
reason, and in full view of the game, and
within few yards of the treacherous, ice,
they came first into limping trot and
then stopped, most unwillingly. OF coruse
this made them very cross, aud general
fght--ierce and augry-now followed,
which was not quieted until the driver
had sailed in among them and knocked
them to right and left with his hard
hickory whipstock.-Dr. Hays "Open
Polar Sea-"