When the dogs are to be harnessed, they are not caught,
as horses are, but only called. Yet they do not like work better than
horses like it, and when they first set out they howl, but grow quiet
after a little while.
The driver is sometimes cruel to these poor dogs, and corrects them for
the smallest fault, by throwing a stone at them, or the great club he
holds in his hand, or at least a snow-ball: if a hungry dog but stoop
down to pick up a morsel of food on the road, he is punished in this
manner. Yet it must be owned, that the dogs have their faults; they are
greedy, and inclined to thieving. To keep food out of their way, the
Ostyaks build store-houses, on the tops of very high poles. The dogs are
always on the watch to slip into their master's houses. If the door be
left open ever so little, a dog will squeeze in, if he can; but he does
not stay _long_ within, for he is soon thrust out with blows and kicks;
the women scream at the sight of a dog in the hut, for they fear lest he
will find the fish-trough. Yet after long journeys, the dogs are brought
into the hut, and permitted to lie down by the fire, and to eat out of
the family trough. At other times they sleep in the snow, and eat
whatever is thrown to them. When they travel, bags of dried fish are
brought in their sledges, to feed them by the way. The puppies are
tenderly treated, and petted by the fire; yet many are killed for the
sake of their fleecy hair, which is considered a fine ornament for
pelisses.
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