Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 135, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 June 1914 — ESKIMO DOGS ARE TREACHEROUS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ESKIMO DOGS ARE TREACHEROUS

TEN little mounds of snow were huddled close to a hut on the western coast of Hudson’s bay when the sun rose over the surrounding wilderness. Far out from the shore the bay was frozen solid and over the ice and the land the gale whirled the feathery snow in great clouds. If there had been a spirit thermometer at the hut It would have recorded a temperature of at least forty degrees below zero. With the first appearance of the sun, two swarthy men, wrapped to their eyes In fur, emerged from the hut on snow shoes and drew from out the lean-to a long, low sledge on which was lashed a great load of skins. They were trappers about to start for the trading post some forty miles up the coast From the front of the sledge—they call it komatik—extended for about eight feet a stout sealskin strand known In those regions as a bridle. Clearly it was meant that draft animals of some eort should be attached thereto. But where were they? The trappers knew. Looking at the ten little mounds of snow, one of them called sharply, “Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho!” After Night In Snow.

The effect was curious. The ten little mounds moved, and then were transformed into as many dogs, which uncurled themselves, arose and shook the snow from their shaggy coats. Another sharp call-and they came bounding to the komatlk. Kicking and cuffing them, the trappers got them Into the harness. To the loop at the free end of the bridle they buttoned the sealskin traces, one of which extended over each dog’s back, there to divide into two loops, which, after his front legs were thrust through them, joined over hls breast Now there was a great hullabaloo, the dogs leaping excitedly about, tugging at their traces and howling with ail their might as the trappers took seats in the komatlk. The man in front had a whip of walrus hide fully twenty-five feet long. Out it flew with a resonant crack. "Whit! Whit!” shouted the driver. With a Anal chorus of howls the dogs bent forward, straining hard to get their heavy load under way, aqd then -with a mad rush they were off, the varying lengths of their traces permitting them to travel together like a pack of wolves. Gradually their pace slackened until it became a gentle trot. Bnt on and on all day they went, following the coast line across frozen bays and the little necks of land that lay between them, their driver keeping them at their duty with his cry of "Whit! Whit!” and an occasional crack of the whip. Sometimes the trappers ran beside the komatlk on their enowshoes to get their blood in circulation, and once in awhile they would have to help the dogs haul the komatlk up a steep slope. Darkness was falling as they approached the end of their 40mile journey. The dogs were tired and lagged more and more. The driver, chilled through and hungry, became savage in his use of the whip. But suddenly on their own accord, the dogs broke into a run, and again filled the air with their bowls. The whitewashed buildings of the post had comfe in sight Faster and faster flew the dogs and, swinging the komatlk dizzily around a point of land they gave a series of leaps and bounds, to draw up at the post with a great flourish that would have done credit to a fashionable coaching party. A bard worker- of extraordinary endurance and indispensable withal, in the desolate regions of the north, where snow and ice reign throughout most of the year, the Eskimo or "husky” dog yet receives a had name from the men for whom he slaves with no other reward than one slender meal a day and n ballet in the head when his five winters of service have worn him out. Extreme ferocity, cannibalism, treachery and cowardice are the charges brought against him. That they afe not without their basis la proved by an incident bordering on a

tragedy that occurred at post of ths Hudson bay copany. Boy’s Narrow Escape. The four-year-old eon of the agent well wrapped in fur, left the post house one day to play about the door. With him was his faithful companion and ..protector, a big mastiff that the agent had brought from England. The huskies that composed the post team of sledge haulers at first had attempted to welcome the mastiff to their midst in the very literal sense of chewing him up; but by dint of giving two or three of the pack, a good mauling, the mastiff had established it once and for all, that he was not their meat So now while the little boy romped til the enow the huskies skulked about at a safe distance. From out of the window the child’s mother glanced occasionally to see that all was well. Suddenly there was a commotion that sent the mother to the door in a frenzy of fear. One piercing scream had come from the child, to be succeeded by a riot of yelps, snarls and howls. The sight that greeted ths mother was appalling. Her boy was down, with the pack of huskies tumbling over one another to get to bint while the big mastiff gallantly fought to save his young charge from their ' dripping fangs. The Child, it was later learned, had fallen bn a patch of ice and the huskies, ever on the alert for an advantage to attack, had set upon him in an instant The big mastiff sprang immediately to the rescue. Their lust for human flesh bad overcome the huskies’ fear of the mastiff;i but while he could not save his charge from being shockingly bitten, bis heroic onslaught upon the pack of maddened brutes prevented them from tearing the boy to pieces on the spot and thus enabled the mother to reads her child before It was too late. The next day the frosty air about! the post rang repeatedly to the reports of a rifle, and when the usual silence that broods over the wilderness had. been restored, 12 husky dogs lay dead In the snow. It was an act not so much, of revenge ss of protection; once 4 husky gets a taste of human blood, no person thereafter Is safe in his vicinity. * Such la the treachery of the dogs that visitors are always warned not tog attempt to pet them. Even if the dog; you are stroking does not take advantage of the occasion to help hlmaelf to a mouthful of your flesh, the others are likely to imagine that a banquet is In progress and make haste to participate. A driver that slips and falls, among the dogs while arranging their harness Is lucky if the fangs of all of them are not buried In him in tho twinkling of an eye.

Typical DOG Team