heroic and generous actions of the "lower animal”—the despised dog--are regarded as matters of course, or depreciated by the arrogance of the higher animal, who probably does not possess one tithe of his virtues :

"But learn we might, if not too proud to stoop

To quadruped instructors, many a good

And useful quality, and virtue too,

Rarely exemplified among ourselves."

The following anecdote is not of so amiable and heroic a nature as the foregoing :

"Hobson's favourite dog' Chummie' has returned, after an absence of six days, decidedly hungry; but he can hardly have been without food all that time-some fox may have lured him off. He evinced great delight at getting back, devoted his first attentions to a hearty meal, then rubbed himself up against his own particular associates, after which he sought out and attacked the weakest of his enemies, and, soothed by their howlings, coiled himself up for a long sleep."

The dogs were fed every second day, when 2 lbs. of seals' flesh-previously thawed when possible-was given to each; the weaker ones got additional food, and they all picked up whatever scraps were thrown out, enough to sustain but not to satisfy them, so they were continually on the look-out for anything eatable. "Hobson made one very happy without intending it; he meant only to give him a kick; but his slipper being down at heel, flew off, and away went the lucky dog in triumph with the prize, which, of course, was no more seen." The Greenland Esquimaux think young dog amongst

the most delicious food, and it was compared by Petersen, the

"A Danish captain," provided some for his

Dane, as "just like the beef of sheep." he said, "who had acquired the taste, guests, and they praised his mutton! After dinner he sent for the skin of the animal, which was no other than a large red dog! This occurred in Greenland, where his Danish guests had resided for many years, far removed from European mutton. Baked puppy is a real delicacy all over Polynesia." "At the Sandwich Islands I was once," says Sir F. M'Clintock, "invited to a feast, and had to feign disappointment as well as I could when told that puppy was so extremely scarce it could not be procured in time, and therefore sucking-pig was substituted!"

was

In the face of a snow-bank alongside the Fox,' some twenty-five holes were excavated for the dogs, and in them they spent most of their time. Under the lee of the ship they could, when their fur was thick, lie out on the snow without apparent inconvenience, though the temperature 40°, and the mists gave a raw and keen edge to the chilling blasts. But these poor animals suffered great hardships, being, though they occasionally obtained whales' flesh or bears,' very badly fed, and often were howling or moaning, half-drowned amidst pelting sleet and rain. Some tried to better their fortune and left the ship. Mr. Hobson, on an expedition," one night muzzled a dog because she was in the habit of gnawing her harness: in this defenceless state, unable even to bark and arouse the men, her amiable sisterhood attacked her so fiercely that she died next day!”

Sir F. M'Clintock thought no dogs could overtake a reindeer in that rough country; but the natives prize these

animals very highly. At Cape Victoria, near the Magnetic Pole, Sir F. M'Clintock could not tempt a whole village of forty-five souls to part with more than one of their fine dogs. Dogs driven hard over sea-ice, formed at low temperatures in calm weather, which soon cuts their feet, suffer intense pain from the brine expressed in freezing, and often fall down in fits. They will not drag a sledge unless it runs freely, but lie down, oblige their masters to unload it, and carry the packages on their own backs over the obstacle. In three days' sleighing most of those belonging to the Fox' went lame with sore feet-some repeatedly falling down in fits, the intense cold having hardened the surface-snow beyond what their feet could endure. For many months they never tasted unfrozen flesh. This last experience of M'Clintock seems at variance with that of Kane, given at page 241. The former adds: :--

"I shall not easily forget the trial my patience underwent during the six weeks that I drove that dog-sledge. The leader of my team, named Omar Pasha,' was very willing, but very lame; little Rose' was coquettish, but fonder of being caressed than whipped. From some cause or other she ceased growing when only a few months old; she was, therefore, far too small for heavy work. Darky' and 'Missy' were mere pups; and, last of all, came the two wretched starvelings, reared in the winter, 'Foxy' and 'Dolly.' Each dog had its own harness, formed of strips of canvas, and was attached to the sledge by a simple trace, twelve feet long. None of them had ever been yoked before, and the amount of cunning and perversity they displayed to avoid both the whip and the work was quite astonishing. They bit through their traces

and hid away under the sledge, or leaped over one another's backs, so as to get into the middle of the team out of the way of my whip, until the traces became plaited up and the dogs were almost knotted together; the consequence was I had to halt every few minutes, pull off my mitts, and, at the risk of frozen fingers, disentangle the lines. I persevered, however, and without breaking any of their bones, succeeded in getting a surprising amount of work out of them. Directly a dogsledge is stopped by a hummock, or sticks fast in deep snow, the dogs, instead of exerting themselves, lie down, looking perfectly delighted at the circumstance, and the driver has to extricate the sledge with a hearty one, two, three, haul! and apply a little gentle persuasion to set his canine team in motion again." Each of the five starveling puppies had to drag 100 lbs., while the men dragged 200 lbs. each.

In spite of the hardships and misery gone through by these creatures (without whose help the discovery of the lot of Franklin and his companions might never have been completely ascertained), their attachment was such, that when on the return homewards of the expedition they were put on shore at Godhavn, the Commander records :-"Even our poor dogs seemed to think the ship their natural abode : although landed at the settlement, they soon ran round the harbour to the point nearest to the ship, and there, upon the rocks, spent the whole period of our stay."

We trust some care was taken for their welfare ere the departure for England of those to whose success they had so largely contributed, and in whose dangers and privations they had borne, at least, an equal share.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE

HE ardent, amiable, hardy, and indomitable traveller, Ledyard; a man of unbounded enterprize, says of the Siberian dogs about Yakutsk. "Dogs are here esteemed nearly in the same degree that horses are in England; for besides answering the same purpose in travelling, they aid the people in the chase, and, after toiling for them the whole day, become their safeguard at night. Indeed they command the greatest attention. There are dog-farriers to attend them in sickness, who are no despicable rivals in art, at least in pretension, to the horse-doctors of civilized Europe. Dogs also command a high price. What they call a leading dog of prime character will sell for three or four hundred roubles."1 He also remarks, that so jealous are the Russians that an ordinary one will be displeased if a man even endeavours to gain the good will of his dog; and he highly affronted the commandant of the town by permitting his dog to walk with him one afternoon. A young Russian officer flew at his dog, a pretty little puppy, in the utmost rage, and gave him a blow which broke his leg, because it jumped on Ledyard's knee and he patted his head and gave him some bread.

It is impossible to mention the high-minded Ledyard

1 A rouble equalled 38. 8d.