6. Sledges are dragged sometimes by men and dogs conjointly, sometimes by men without dogs, or by dogs alone. Reindeer are found to be unfit for sledge dragging; although Parry in former days, and Nordenskjöld more recently, frequently attempted to employ them in this service. Though a reindeer is able to make with a sledge as many as 120 miles in three days, it cannot continue such efforts without long periods of repose, nor drag the heavy loads which are requisite in longer journeys. Besides this, he who has had any experience in this mode of travelling, knows the unaccountable capriciousness of these animals, their stubbornness, and the difficulty of feeding them. Natives alone are able to manage them, while to strangers they refuse subjection. When the sledges are dragged by men alone, unexpected contingencies are less to be apprehended, but at the same time their rate of progress is diminished. In an expedition calculated to last a month, ten miles constitute the average day’s march, when circumstances are favourable. If the length of the journey be prolonged, this average will be considerably diminished. The combination of men and dogs in the work of dragging accelerates the speed. With regard to the men employed in this work, it is advisable to engage experienced mountaineers[28] of great bodily strength, such men being able to do work for which, it is admitted, sailors have neither training nor inclination. 7. No form of sledge travelling, when measured by results, can be compared with sledging by the help of dogs alone; for this method enables us to compass the greatest possible distance, and diminishes the dead-weight of the load in the sledge. Besides this, dogs are not only active but tractable; they show no fear; they can endure hunger longer than men, even while making great exertions; they neither drink nor smoke; neither fuel for the stove to liquefy the snow, nor tent, nor sleeping bag, need be taken for them; none, in fact, of those many little things which are indispensable for men. In extreme necessity they may be even used for food. And since a strong dog is able to drag, even for a long journey, double of what he needs for his own support, the surplus falls to the share of the man who accompanies him, and who is able, therefore, to prolong his absence from the ship. Without considering the forced marches which Englishmen, Americans, and Russians have frequently made on the ice with a number of dogs, the employment of a few dogs in sledge expeditions has such conspicuous advantage over teams of men, that I would earnestly recommend the following method of procedure: two teams of dogs, each of two or four strong Newfoundlands, should be employed, one to be driven by the leader of the expedition and the other by one of the most experienced and trustworthy of the party. Each sledge should carry at starting, a weight of from 4 to 7 cwt., i.e. provisions for thirty to fifty days, only needing a slight supplement