THE SKETCHER.

Otago Witness, Issue 224, 28 May 1896, Page 49

THE SKETCHER.

HOW SLEDGE DOGS ARE FEDi When we killed oaribou tho dogs were fed pr> the spot, and the little meat remaining was divided among the sledges, to ba oarried for them against the days we were not co lucky. We never were lucky enough to kill before this little supply was exhausted. Had we bsen, we, the seven Indians and I, would have eaten meat. As it was, we ate the intestines and fat, and the dogs ate the meat, because there was not nourishment enough in the intestines for the dogs>. Before we left Resolution Beniah and I had a thorough understanding on this point. Many of the Indian expeditions to the Barrens are crippled by loss of dogs from starvation, And I knew that the loss of our dogs meant failure; so we decided if there was any starving the greater part of it should fall on us, realising, of oonrse, that if the worst oame we could eat the dogs. Beniah heldto hfs agreement, and enforced compliance from the others, and to hia wisdom in this direction, in fact, is due much of our success in getting out of. the Barrens. When it ia remembered that the ordinary meal for a dog-traia— ie., four dogs that are travelling thirty or more miles a day— consists of a caribou bind and forfquarter, that we had 28 dogs, aud that we never got more than a caribou or two at intervals of several. days, the reader may understand why the dogs were liko wild animals, and why we ate the intestines and gressa and saved them the meat.< When we killed musk-ox we first out off meat for a day or two's dog-feeding, and then turned the dogs loose on tLe carcases, over which they worried and soarled and fought the livelong night. When there were no carcases, they were fed cub of hand from the slender supply en the sledge, and then they fought up, and worried the weaker among themselves into dividing the frozen chunks that were tossed to them. This dog-feeding was a trying experience. All the trains ware fed at the same time — when we camped at eight— and such a scene cannot be duplicated anywhere on earth. As ws emerged from the lodge with the tiny feed rolled up in the skirt of our capote, there was a rush by the dogs that pretty nearly oinied us off our feet, and frequently knocked down the lodge. We always tried, but never with success, to steal a mweb on the doga aud get away from the lodge btf ore th« ruvh, but the moment one of us showtd his head they gathered for the assault, and there was-notlmg to do but to scramble) out as best vre could, otherwise they wo-ild have poured into the lodge and torD it and our olothts to pkces in their crazy hunger. Sp we would bolt out la a body he&da down, and hugging tbe meat to our breasts with one band, use the whip vigeurously with tho other, while the dogs jamped into us and on top of us in their frantic eh* deavoura to tear away the little scrap of meat we held. Gradually we would separate, and each man attempt to gather his train by lashing those that did not belong to him, and calßng by aame^ those that did. When, after much fighting, each had gathered his owd, the actual process of feeding began, and this: again demanded much activity and some strategy to ensure every dog of your train getting its portion. I never had time to notice how the Indians did it, but my method was to run each dog in turn a few yards from the other three, quickly tons his .meat to him before the others caught up, and then stnnd guard over him while he ate it. The eating did not occupy much tim« — there was only a growl, a grab, and a gulp, and the meat wa* gone. It was nece**ary to bs expeditious, for the dogs that had swallowed their meat ran from group to group Peeking those that had not, and woe bstide the poor beast that attempted to masticate his morsel! Two of my train, Flossie and Finnette, were very timid, and gave ma no end of bother. It was 'only nece3»ary for another dog to start toward them, and th»y would drop their meat and xnn &ff. I found it necessary to hold them by the scruff of tbe neck while they ate, and I lrtid my whipstcck ovei> the heads of the d<>gs that fought around me. Feeding auimala in tbe Zoo isn't a circumstance to feeding dogs in the Barrens. As I | have said, our three-caribou feast of that morning — our third in the " Land of Little Slicks "—was the last. I like to dwell on it even now. First the legs of the cariboo were cut off, stripped of their sinews and flash, and the bones 'cracked open for the marrow ; then the heart and kidneys and two uuborn calv6S ; then the tongues and the eyes and the ears ; and all the while ribs were roasting stock upon sticks about the fire, and a kettle full of what was left from the dogfeed hurg suspended from a tripod over all. I confined myself to the marrow and riba, and simply marvelled at the quantity those Indians ate. When we started on again there was not left a great deal of the three caribou to load on to the oladges, but the Indians were in good hamour. — Harper's Magazine. THE LAST WOLF IN SCOTLAND, It has been said that in Scotland the Middle Ages lasted till 1745. Many of the 'Circumstances which surrounded Soottish life down till the second Jacobite rising certainly go far to justify this statement. Long after Et gland had reached an advanced state of civilisation, Scotland remained in a condition of chaotic barbarism. The mere physical characteristics of many parts of Scotland remained thoroughly mediaeval till within comparatively recent times. The wolf, which in the southern kingdom dieap- ' peared in the time of the early Plantagenets, continued to flourish in the Highlands of Scotland till 17-13. For oenturies it was one of the banes of Scotland, Traces of the wolf are to be found all over the northern kingdom, recalling a time when it was a common denizen of tbe mountains and forests. There is no town in the world more suggestive of proaaio and commonplace, Dinetetmth-cen-tnry comforts than G)a«gow. Yet within its radius lies Polmadie (Pool-maddy), "the Pool of the Wolf," a name which carries the mind back to the time when the inhabitants of the little group of wattled huts, clustering ronnd the church of St. Mungo, knew that savage wolves larked at the spot which still beam their name. I'ne more energetic monarohs of Scotland did not oegard tbe wolf with indifference.

At the end of the thirteenth century a hunter of wolves was maintained in Stirling at the expense of the king. Jftom I of Scotland enacted that in the " gangand " time of the year each baron should summon his tenants to seek out the wolves and wolfoubs throughout his barony, and should hunt in person four times in the year, and as often more as any wolf was seen within his bounds. In the reign of Mary the wolves became so numerous in the forests of the H : ghlands that it was impossible to travel with safety. House?, or " spittals," as they were called, were erected to provide lodging for travellers who might be overtaken by night whore there was no place of shelter. The Spittal of Glen-shee was one of the most important of these shelters. In 1618, Taylor the waterpoet, visiting the forest of Braemar, wrote : " During the space of 12 days I saw neither house nor cornfield nor habitation for any oreature but deer, wild horses, wolves, and such like creatures." *%*lt is a popular belief that tho last wolf in Scotland was killed in Loohaber by Sir Ewon Cameron, of Loohiel, in 1680. Pennant makes this assertion in his " Tour in Scotland," vol. i, p. 206, and it has been copied into many histories. Wolve3 were to be found long after 1680. John Sobieeki Stuart, writing in 1818, states that the last wolf in Strathglaa was killed at Guisaohan, according to tradition, "at up, very diatanb period." According to ancient tradition in Gknurchard, the last wolf in Scotland was destroyed in Glenurchard at a place called ever since " Slochd-a-mbadaidb," " tbe wolf's don." It is probable that tho last Soottish wolf was really that which was killed, according to tradition, by M*.cQueen of Pollochock in 1743. Polloch' ck, who was a vasnal of the Laird of Macintosh, died in 1797. He was a man of gigantic (statute, 6ft 7in in height, and of great strength and courage. In 1743 he received a message from the Laird of Macintosh thab a large " blaok beast," supposed to be a wolf, had killed two children who, with their mother, were crossing the hills from Oawdor. The message was accompanied by a summons to attend alot-g with his dogs. On the morning fixed for the hunt, the expedition had losg assembled before Pollocbook made an appearance. When at last he did arrive, the Liird of Macintosh greeted him with ' reproaches for bis neglect. " Clod c a chabbag 7 " (What was the hurry 7) said Polloohock. Macintosh impatiently replied. Thereupon Pollochock lifted his plaid, and drew out the black bloody head of the wolf from under hia arm. " Sin c dhuibh." (Thore it ia for yon,) he said,. and tossed it on to the groand in the midst of the astonished circle. The tradition of Pulloohock's valour in destroying the last wolf lingered amongst the peasantry of Moraysbire till the beginning of the present centuiy. — James A. LovatFbasbb, in the Antiquary. „