THROUGH SIBERIA IN A DOGSLEDGE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 15, 6 May 1871, Page 5

THROUGH SIBERIA IN A DOGSLEDGE.

Mr Keen an and his companions explored the whole peninsular of passed beneath the terrible volcano of Kooleschefskoi, which towers to upwards' of 16,000 feet into the wintry sky, coasted the Okotsk Sea, drove over the snowy wastes of Ana=. dyrsk, that farthest outpost of Eussian life ; and finally crossed the vast extent of Siberia to Moscow. Without the help of dogs these desserts of snow would be impassable, and the training of these animals is so curious that we must let the author give his own account of it:— The winter travel of the Kamtchadols is accomplished entirely upon dog-sledges and in no other pursuit of their lives do they spend more time or exhibit their native skill and ingenuity to better advantage. They may even be said to have made dogs for themselves in the first place, for the present. Sioerian animal is nothing more than a halfdomesticated arctic wolf, and still retains all its wolfish instincts and peculiarities. There is probably no more hardy, enduring animal in the world. You mays compel him to sleep out on the snow in a temperature seventy degrees below zero, drive him with heavy loads until his feet crack open and print the snow with blood, or starve him till he eats his harness; but his strength and his spirit seem alike unconquerable. I have driven a team of nine dogs more than a hundred miles in a day and night, and. have frequently

worked them hard for tbrty-eight hours without being able to give them a particle of food, tn general they are fed once a day, their allowance being a dried fish weighing perhaps'a pound and a half or two pounds. This is given to them at night, so that they begin another day's work with empty stomachs. Thesledgeto which they are harnessed is about ten feet in length and two in width; made with seasoned birch timber, and combines to a surprising degree the two most desirable qualities of strength, and lightness. It is simplya skeleton framework, fastened together with lashings of dried seal skin, and mounted on broad curved runners. No iron whatever is used in its construction, and it does not weigh more than twenty pounds; yet it will sustain a load of 4001 b or 5001 b, and endure the severest shocks of rough mountain travel. The number of dogs harnessed to this sledge varies from seven to fifteen, according to the nature of the country to be traversed and the weight of the load. Under favorable circumstances eleven dogs will make a journey of fifty miles a day with a man and a load of four hundred pounds.