Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole, Volume 2Parry, William Edward, Sir
History
Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole, Volume 2
Parry, William Edward, Sir
Arctic regions; Northwest Passage; Parry, William Edward, Sir, 1790-1855
With heavy loads the dogs draw best with one of their own people,
especially a woman, walking a little way ahead; and in this case they
are sometimes enticed to mend their pace by holding a mitten to the
mouth, and then making the motion of cutting it with a knife, and
throwing it on the snow, when the dogs, mistaking it for meat, hasten
forward to pick it up. The women also entice them from the huts in a
similar manner. The rate at which they travel depends, of course, on the
weight they have to draw and the road on which their journey is
performed. When the latter is level, and very hard and smooth,
constituting what in other parts of North America is called "good
sleighing," six or seven dogs will draw from eight to ten hundred
weight, at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour for several hours
together, and will easily, under those circumstances, perform a journey
of fifty or sixty miles a day; on untrodden snow, five-and-twenty or
thirty miles would be a good day's journey. The same number of well-fed
dogs, with a weight of only five or six hundred pounds (that of the
sledge included), are almost unmanageable, and will, on a smooth road,
run any way they please at the rate of ten miles an hour. The work
performed by a greater number of dogs is, however, by no means in
proportion to this; owing to the imperfect mode already described of
employing the strength of these sturdy creatures, and to the more
frequent snarling and fighting occasioned by an increase of numbers.
In the summer, when the absence of snow precludes the use of sledges,
the dogs are still made useful on journeys and hunting excursions, by
being employed to carry burdens in a kind of saddle-bags laid across
their shoulders. A stout dog thus accoutred will accompany his master,
laden with a weight of about twenty or twenty-five pounds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account