The log cabin Democrat., 1913-01-25
IN SIBERIAN WASTES
DEeOLATE AND BLEAK COUNTRY
 OF THE NORTH.
Valuable Ivory Still Yielded From Ami maIs That Lived Centuries Ago Reindeer and Dogs Used as
 Beasts of Burden.

HSooNo VI SN'N
 It is not generally known that Si beria furnishes a large quantity of ivory to the markets of the world but the production of it belongs to an- other age and to species of animals that does not now exist.
 The ivory is cut from the tusks of mammoths whose skeletons are found frozen in masses of ice or buried in mud of Arctic rivers and swamps.
 Even to wild animals these bogs are forbidden ground. The nimble reindeer can sometimes cross them safely in the summer. but most other large animals would be engulfed With the summer thaw that penetrates more deeply than usual into the ground some of these antediluvian monsters are always exposed.
 It is to recover these valuable fos- sil tusks, also to hunt and trap the fur-bearing animals and transport the belts of the sable, ermine and sea ot- ter back to civilization that forms a chief occupation of many of the Siber ian natives. According to the Rail road Mans Magazine, they make the most perilous freighting journeys in the world beset by all sorts of hard ships.
 The people are divided into two classes, the reindeer breeder and the dog-breeding tribes. The former live entirely on the products of their rein deer herds. Some of the reindeer tribes use their animals for riding and sledge driving only and not for food purpose The Yakuts, one of the largest and most progressive tribes, use their deer entirely for transporta- tion purposes.
 Two large animals are always used to freight sledge. These carry mer- chandise, mail and furs all over the northern part of the province of Ya- kutsk Their reindeer are of great size, larger than those possessed by the other reindeer people.
 If well pastured and not overwork- ed a trained pair of harnessed rein deer can make 50 to 75 miles a day,
  hard on the tundra. When tired the deer must be immediately rested. If compelled to travel further they be- come exhausted and often drop dead
 The team dogs serve till 10 or 12 years old. After the sixth or seventh year they begin to decline. The dogs are harnessed in pairs to a strong seal thong, which serves the place of a wiffietree. A full team consists of six or seven pairs.
 The course Is directed by special call words. These are understood by the leading dog, which Is tHained es- pecially for that purpose. The har- ness consists of a breastpiece and two or three bands across the back The dogs pull on the traces somewhat obliquely, so as to leave sufficient room between them to avoid jostling Even when a young or badly trained dog is matched to an old one the elder will actually prevent its companion from causing trouble, biting it severe ly every time 1t tries to leap across the strap
 Shy or disobedient dogs are placed nearer to the sledge, where they can be reached by the whip. At the rear more exertion is required, since the sledge, on every undulation of the ground, pulls backward, Strong ami mals somewhat slow from age or from lack of mettIe are usually placed at the rear and those that are more brisk in the front
 With a light sledge and good dogs 150 miles can be travelled in "A hours. Two hundred mikes have been made in two days. The dogs are fed once a day, usually in the evening. A piece of blubber about two inches square and some shreds of walrus meat, dried or frozen fish, form the daily ration of every dog.
 A good team of 12 dogs can haul from 400 to GO pounds. One of the long sledge journeys made by the tn- land reindeer people Is over 500 miles, in March and April, when they make up a trading caravan of reindeer skins for boots and clothing, etc, which they take to East Cape on the Pacific to barter to Americans and whalers.