Page:Across the sub-Arctics of Canada (1897).djvu/159

 *teen feet long, built of wood and placed about eighteen inches apart, upon the top of which are lashed a number of cross bars or slats. The runners are shod either with ivory or with mud, the latter answering the purpose exceedingly well. The mud covering is, of course, put on in a soft state, when it can be easily worked and formed into proper shape. When the mud is on, and the surface nicely smoothed off, it is allowed to freeze, and speedily becomes as hard as stone. In order to complete the vehicle, and put it in good running order, there is one thing to be done. The shoeing, whether of mud or ivory, must be covered with a thin coating of ice, in order to do which the Eskimo overturns the komitick, fills his spacious mouth with water from some convenient source, and then from his lips deposits a fine stream along the runner, where, quietly freezing, it forms a smooth glassy surface.

During the winter season the komitick forms an important factor in the Eskimo's life. It is drawn by a team, not of horses, nor even reindeer, but of dogs. The number of animals forming a team varies greatly, sometimes consisting of not more than three good dogs, but at other times fifteen or more are attached to a single sled. Each dog is attached by a single line, the length of which varies according to the merits of its owner. Thus the best dog in the team acts as leader, and has a line twenty or twenty-five feet in length.

In order to control the team the driver carries a whip of somewhat startling dimensions. This instrument of torture has a short wooden handle only about eighteen inches long, but what is lacking in stock is more than made up in lash, for this latter, made of the hide of