The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1888-02-09
DOGS AND SIEDGES.
HOW THE ESKIMO DRIVER MAN.
AGES HIS TEAM OF Oo0e.l

The McClintock Model. 2
Eskimo dogs have each harness with
loops that ,pass around the neck and un-
der each leg, uniting on the back and
fastened to a long trace of sealskin about
third of an inch wide. The traces are
of various lengths, so that when hitched
to the sled the dogs can spread out like q
fan. They are guided by the voice Of the
driver, whose commands are enforced
with whip, the handle Of which is about
eighteen inches in length, and the lash
from eighteen to thirty feet long. The
dogs in Siberia are harnessed in pairs ON
either side of long line Of walrus skin
and are trained to obey the drivers voice.
The driver controls the movements Of the
sled with stout stick shod with iron,
which he uses as brake.
In crossing rough ice the Kinnepatoo
Eskimos, of Hudson Bay, use sled about
eighteen inches wide and from thirty to
forty feet long. This is intended to ride
across the hummocks with q much stead
Ter motion than a short sled, which r
constantly pitching about, and, under such
circumstances, very hard to draw and cx-
tremely difficult to handle. The lopg,
sleds Of the Kinnepatoos glide EeyX
smoothly and rapidly over rough ice, and
are easily managed. They are made with
solid plank runners, sometimes spliced to
secure greater length, and are shod with
moss and iced.
IN SIBERIA AND ALASKA.
The Russian traders and settlers in
Kamtchatka and Alaska have several pat
terms of sleds. The one upon which heavy
loads are drawn is trestlework Of strong
wood dashed with rawhide thongs It IL
very light, runs smoothly and is not easily
broken. At Petropaulovski, in KANT
chatka, also procured small sled Of
basketwork, which was made somewhat
in the shape Of q large saddle, with very
high pommel and Group. It is designed to
carry one person only, who sits astride Of
it and rests his feet on the runners. This
can be used only for light work and on
short rapid Journeys, for It has no placs
wherein to carry any load.
The sled used by the tribes in Northern
Siberia combines the excellencies Of the
long sled of the Kinnepatoos, the trestle-
work sled of the Russian traders and the
McClintock sled, used by mostly all Brit
ish explorers. It is made with thin, broad
runners of wood shod with strips Of jaw.
bone of the whale or q sort Of hard drift
wood found on the northeastern coast Of
Siberia. The bed or platform is sup
ported by uprights let into and lashed to
runners.
THE M'cL1NToCK SLED.
The sled most approved by modern ex-
plorers of Arctic North America is known
as "the McClintock sled," and was de-
signed and used by Admiral Sir Leopold
McClintock, of the Royal navy, on all his
Arctic journeys. It is made with runners
Of hard wood, with uprights and cross.
<,Ak kt,n n ov,&
riveted, and the runners, shod with hoop
iron, are bent up front and rear 30 that
the sled can be drawn equally well with
either end in front. My experience with
sleds of this pattern has been that though,
perhaps, excellent where men are used in
the harness, they are not good dog sleds.
They are also liable to break where the
lateral strain is great on the parts that are
are mortised together, therefore their use
is not advisable on long journeys.
Besides the various sleds already de.
scribed, have seen musk OK, reindeer,
bear and seal skins temporarily used tot
that purpose, and after the snow melted
and the floods subsided in Central Siberia,
have also enjoyed rest for my weary
limbs on heavy sleds drawn by bulls over
the muddy and slippery land. With such
a large variety to choose from, have no
hesitation in expressing my unqualified
preference for all purposes Of hard work
in the land Of ice and snow for tho
Tchouktchis' driftwood sleds, both large
and small, which combine the greatest
amount Of strength and elasticity with
the least weight, while at the same time
they are less likely to be broken, and
when broken, more readily repaired than
any others l have used OF seen. The
model can scarcely be improved upon, but
the driftwood used by those poor savages
in the absence of other material might
adVantageously be replaced with tough
young hickory or other woods from more
temperate climates. II. Glider,
U. 8. N, in The Century.