Page:The American Indian.djvu/60

34 varied greatly in size and form, from the small, pug-like type found in Peru and the hairless variety of the tropics, to the great hairy beasts reared in some parts of the Arctic. Since it is certain that all dogs will readily cross with wolves and foxes and yet tend to remain fertile, the preservation of these types must have required some selective breeding. The only definite study of native dog culture so far made is that of Wilson for the Hidatsa (Siouan) which reveals a complex not inferior to that for agriculture. The Peruvians are credited with three distinct varieties of dog, the contemporaneousness of which necessitates our assuming the existence of breeding control similar to that exercised by us. However, since the methods of propagation are unknown, except for a few northern localities, a comparative discussion of the subject is out of the question.

Dog transportation, on the other hand, has received careful consideration. The most striking characteristic is its limited distribution, for, notwithstanding that the dog occurs everywhere, its use in transportation is confined to the caribou and bison areas with very narrow fringes in those adjoining. Above the forest line dogs were made to draw sledges, a trait quite characteristic of the Eskimo, but found among the most northern Indians of Canada as well. These sledges have straight parallel runners and do not differ essentially from our own simple farm types. There are different methods of harnessing, but for the most part the dogs are hitched by long single traces and run somewhat fan-shaped with the leader at the apex. Excellent descriptions are given in Arctic books of travel.

In all the wooded parts of the caribou area a toboggan is used, the snow being rather too soft for sledges. This is also the great snowshoe area. While dogs were used to drag these toboggans, the hunters themselves not infrequently drew them. The early development of the Canadian fur trade by the Hudson's Bay and French companies greatly stimulated dog traction and greatly increased the use of sledges where ice conditions permitted. The former southern limits of the toboggan are not certainly known but it seemed to end with the