Native Americans: 22 Books on History, Mythology, Culture & Linguistic Studies. James Mooney

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      Fig. 489. Tube for drinking. (National Museum, Washington. 10383.) ¼

      When the sledge has been loaded the dogs are hitched to it and the driver takes up the whip and is ready for starting. The handle of the whip is about a foot or a foot and a half in length. It is made of wood, bone, or whalebone and has a lash of from twenty to twenty-five feet in length. The lash is made of walrus or ground seal hide, the lower end being broad and stiff, thus giving it greater weight and a slight springiness near the handle, which facilitates its use. A broad piece of skin clasps the handle, to which it is tied with seal thongs. Another way of making the lower part heavy is by plaiting ground seal lines for a length of a foot or a foot and a half.

      When starting the driver utters a whistling guttural sound which sounds like h!h!, but cannot exactly be expressed by letters, as there is no vowel in it, and yet on account of the whistling noise in the throat it is audible at a considerable distance. The dogs, if well rested and strong, jump to their feet and start at once. If they are lazy it requires a great deal of stimulating and lashing before they make a start. If the load is heavy it is difficult to start it and the Eskimo must use some strategy to get them all to pull at once. The sledge is moved backward and forward for about a foot, so as to make a short track in which it moves easily. Then the driver sings out to the dogs, at the same time drawing the traces tight with his hands and pulling at the sledge. The dogs, feeling a weight at the traces, begin to draw, and when the driver suddenly lets go the traces the sledge receives a sudden pull and begins to move. If assistance is at hand the sledge may be pushed forward until it gets under way.

      It is extremely hard work to travel with a heavy load, particularly in rough ice or on soft snow. The dogs require constant stimulating; for this purpose a great number of exclamations are in use and almost every Eskimo has his own favorite words for driving. The general exclamation, used for stimulating is the above mentioned h! h! or aq! aq! which is pressed out from the depths of the breast and the palate, the vowel being very indistinct. Others are: djua! the a being drawn very long and almost sung in a high key, or ah! pronounced in the same way; iatit! or jauksa koksa! and smacking with the tongue. If a seal is seen basking on the ice or if the sledge happens to pass a deserted snow hut, the driver says, Ha! Do you see the seal? Ai! A seal! a seal! (Ha! Takuviuk? Ai! Uto! uto!) and Ai! There is a house; a small house! (Ai! Iglu; igluaqdjung!) or, Now we go home! (Sarpoq! Sarpoq!) The latter, however, are only used when the dogs are going at a good rate.

      For directing the sledge the following words are used: Aua, aua! Aua! ja aua! for turning to the right; χoiaχoi! ja χoia! for turning to the left. In addition the whip lash is thrown to the opposite side of the dogs. The leader is the first to obey the order, but a turn is made very slowly and by a long curve. If the driver wants to make a sharper turn he must jump up and run to the opposite side of the sledge, throwing the whip lash at the same time toward the team. For stopping the dogs the word Ohoha! pronounced in a deep key, is used.

      If the traveling is difficult the driver must walk along at the right side of the sledge and wherever hummocks obstruct the passage he must direct it around them either by pushing its head aside or by pulling at the deer’s skull at the back. But notwithstanding all this stimulating and all the pulling the sledge is frequently stopped by striking a piece of ice or by sinking into soft snow. As soon as it sinks down to the cross bars it must be lifted out, and when the load is heavy the only means of getting on is by unloading and afterwards reloading. In the same way it must be lifted across hummocks through which a road is cut with the end of the spear, which, for this purpose, is always lashed in a place where it is handy for use, generally on the right side of the bottom of the sledge. The difficulties of traveling across heavy ice which has been subjected to heavy pressures have frequently been described. When the sledge stops the dogs immediately lie down, and if they cannot start again, though pulling with all their strength, the leader frequently looks around pitifully, as if to say, We cannot do more!

      Traveling with a light sledge and strong dogs is quite different. Then the team is almost unmanageable and as soon as it is hitched up it is off at full speed. The driver sits down on the fore part and lets the whip trail along, always ready for use. Now the dogs have time enough for playing and quarreling with one another. Though they generally keep their proper place in the team, some will occasionally jump over the traces of their neighbors or crawl underneath them; thus the lines become quickly entangled, and it is necessary to clear them almost every hour.

      If any dog of the team is lazy the driver calls out his name and he is lashed, but it is necessary to hit the dog called, for if another is struck he feels wronged and will turn upon the dog whose name has been called; the leader enters into the quarrel, and soon the whole pack is huddled up in one howling and biting mass, and no amount of lashing and beating will separate the fighting team. The only thing one can do is to wait until their wrath has abated and to clear the traces. It is necessary, however, to lay the mittens and the whip carefully upon the sledge, for the leader, being on the lookout for the traces to be strung, may give a start when the driver is scarcely ready, and off the team will go again before the driver can fairly get hold of the sledge. If anything has dropped from it he must drive in a wide circle to the same place before he can stop the team and pick it up. On an old track it is very difficult to stop them at all. When attempting to do so the driver digs his heels into the snow to obstruct their progress and eventually comes to a stop. Then he stands in front of the sled and makes the dogs lie down by lashing their heads gently. Should the dogs start off he would be thrown upon the sledge instead of being left behind, which might easily happen should he stand alongside.

The sledge is steered with the legs, usually with the right foot of the driver, or, if it must be pulled aside from a large hummock, by pulling the head aside or by means of the deer’s antlers. If two persons are on the sledge—and usually two join for a long drive—they must not speak to each other, for as soon as the dogs hear them they will stop, turn around, sit down, and listen to the conversation. It has frequently been said that the method of harnessing is inconvenient, as the dogs cannot use their strength to the best advantage; but whoever has driven a sledge himself will understand that any other method would be even more troublesome and less effective. On smooth ice and hard snow any method of harnessing could be used; but, on rough ice, by any other method every cross piece would quickly break on СКАЧАТЬ