Even when it was quite dark Papik sometimes went hunting with his
father. First they got their sled ready. The sled was made of bone and
pieces of driftwood, with a high pair of deer antlers for handles at
the back. Its runners had to be slick and smooth so that the dogs could
pull it easily.
[Illustration: ~Eskimos had different kinds of sleds. This was
Papik's.~]
[Illustration: ~Hunters riding on sleds never talked to each other. If
they did, the dogs would stop and listen.~]
Long ago the Eskimos discovered that a coating of ice made a sled's
runners good and slick. But ice won't stick very well to bare wood
or bone. So this is what they did: At the beginning of winter they
plastered the runners with a thick coat of mud and decayed moss, which
would stick tight when it was frozen. Now an ice coating would stick to
the mud.
Each time Papik used the sled, he iced the runners. He filled his mouth
with water and squirted it back and forth. As the water froze, Papik
squirted on more, until he had a thick layer of ice over the mud and
moss.
Next Papik and his father put harness on the dogs and hitched each one
separately to the sled. While the dogs barked and quarreled with each
other, Papik hung a snow knife and a rope made of skin over the sled's
handles. He put a harpoon and a big polar bearskin on the bottom of the
sled, and now they were ready to start.
[Illustration: ~A snow knife made of walrus ivory for cutting snow~]
Papik's father snapped his long whip over the dogs' heads. He could
make the whip crack right near a dog's ear without ever touching it.
Papik could do this, too. By the time he was six years old, he could
aim the whip anywhere he wanted to, although the lash was more than
twenty feet long.
[Illustration]
At the whip's crack, the sled was off. The team spread out like a fan
behind the lead dog, who was a natural leader and always traveled at
the very front. Papik sat on the bearskin behind his father who used
the whip to guide the dogs.