America's Fascinating Indian Heritage - 78 edition

THE ARCTIC

The Dog and Sled: Tundra Transportation

Though numerous Indians, particularly those of the Subarctic, employed toboggans for winter transport, the Eskimos developed a true sled--a platform of crosspieces raised off the ground by two runners. The best sleds were made of wood, but except in the Hudson and Davis Straits regions, where driftwood was plentiful, Eskimos were often forced to use other, heavier materials: whale bones for the runners and caribou antlers for the crosspieces. And when bone was in short supply, a skin tent was sometimes cut in half, the two pieces rolled up and frozen, and then used as serviceable runners. Among the Netsiliks frozen fish--laid overlapping, end-to-end--were often used to fill the interiors of skin runners. When spring arrived, making sledding impossible, the fish began to thaw, and the Netsiliks unwrapped the fish and ate them.

The sleds were pulled by teams of huskies; a lightweight wood sled needing only 6 or so of the animals, while the heavier skin and bone models required teams of as many as 16. Each team had a lead dog, the smartest of the lot, that was both feared and respected by the others. Its job was to direct the team according to the signals of the whip. When warm weather turned the tundra surface to marshes, the Eskimos put aside their sleds, and the dogs were left free to forage.

The First Indians p. 10

Lost Indian Civilizations p. 42

North America In 1500 p. 78

The Southeast p. 80

The Northeast and Great Lakes p. 110

The Great Plains p. 154

The Southwest p. 204

Great Basin, California, Plateau p. 250

The Northwest Coast p. 288

The Subarctic p. 328

The Arctic p. 354

Contemporary Indians p. 329

Seeing Indian History p. 398

Index p. 402

Credits and Acknowledgments p. 413