NOTE 3.—­No dog-sledges are now known, I believe, on this side of the course of the Obi, and there not south of about 61 deg. 30’.  But in the 11th century they were in general use between the Dwina and Petchora.  And Ibn Batuta’s account seems to imply that in the 14th they were in use far to the south of the present limit:  “It had been my wish to visit the Land of Darkness, which can only be done from Bolghar.  There is a distance of 40 days’ journey between these two places.  I had to give up the intention however on account of the great difficulty attending the journey and the little fruit that it promised.  In that country they travel only with small vehicles drawn by great dogs.  For the steppe is covered with ice, and the feet of men or the shoes of horses would slip, whereas the dogs having claws their paws don’t slip upon the ice.  The only travellers across this wilderness are rich merchants, each of whom owns about 100 of these vehicles, which are loaded with meat, drink, and firewood.  In fact, on this route there are neither trees nor stones, nor human dwellings.  The guide of the travellers is a dog who has often made the journey before!  The price of such a beast is sometimes as high as 1000 dinars or thereabouts.  He is yoked to the vehicle by the neck, and three other dogs are harnessed along with him.  He is the chief, and all the other dogs with their carts follow his guidance and stop when he stops.  The master of this animal never ill-uses him nor scolds him, and at feeding-time the dogs are always served before the men.  If this be not attended to, the chief of the dogs will get sulky and run off, leaving the master to perdition” (II. 399-400).

[Mr. Parker writes (China Review, xiv. p. 359), that dog-sledges appear to have been known to the Chinese, for in a Chinese poem occurs the line:  “Over the thick snow in a dog-cart.”—­H.C.]

The bigness attributed to the dogs by Polo, Ibn Batuta, and Rubruquis, is an imagination founded on the work ascribed to them.  Mr. Kennan says they are simply half-domesticated Arctic wolves.  Erman calls them the height of European spaniels (qu. setters?), but much slenderer and leaner in the flanks.  A good draught-dog, according to Wrangell, should be 2 feet high and 3 feet in length.  The number of dogs attached to a sledge is usually greater than the old travellers represent,—­none of whom, however, had seen the thing.

Wrangell’s account curiously illustrates what Ibn Batuta says of the Old Dog who guides:  “The best-trained and most intelligent dog is often yoked in front....  He often displays extraordinary sagacity and influence over the other dogs, e.g. in keeping them from breaking after game.  In such a case he will sometimes turn and bark in the opposite direction; ... and in crossing a naked and boundless tundra in darkness or snow-drift he will guess his way to a hut that he has never visited but once before” (I. 159).  Kennan also says:  “They are guided and controlled entirely by the voice and by a lead-dog, who is especially trained for the purpose.”  The like is related of the Esquimaux dogs. (Kennarts Tent Life in Siberia, pp. 163-164; Wood’s Mammalia, p. 266.)