IN the Arctic regions, far beyond the reach of railways, and where even the sea is frozen during many months of the year, we find strange conveyances and means of travel, for in those desolate lands there are no roads. Even if a track is made it may, within a few hours, be covered with drifting snow and entirely lost.

Horses and oxen cannot live in the bitter climate of the north, so carriages, or any other wheeled conveyances, are useless. Travellers, therefore, must needs adapt themselves to the conditions of weather and country, and either invent new means of locomotion or else borrow ideas from the original inhabitants of those bleak, snow-clad lands.

The first Arctic explorers described their experiences in the Polar regions, and life among the Esquimaux has changed very little since those pioneer days when Frobisher and Sir Humphrey Gilbert set sail in search of a new route to India and the East. "They are a very strong people and warlike," the historian of Frobisher's expedition wrote in 1577. "They go in coats made from the skins of beasts. They travel in sledges drawn by dogs, and move from place to place in quest of food."

The dogs seen then by the adventurous Englishmen and still used by the natives are sturdy, rough-haired animals, rather like large shaggy collies in appearance. They are very strong and hardy, and are able to drag heavy loads for long distances. Esquimaux sledges were often nearly twelve feet long and had runners made of the jawbones of whales or of pieces of wood strongly lashed together.

Arctic travellers soon found that if they wished to journey far into the Polar regions they must needs adopt native customs, so they bought sledges and either dragged them themselves or hired guides and teams of dogs. It is no easy matter to drive one of these Esquimaux sledges, for the dogs are harnessed in single file and are only controlled by the voice of the driver or by the long flexible whip which he carries. The speed at which a sledge can be drawn depends very much on the condition of the snow, but if it is hard and smooth forty or fifty miles can be covered in a single day.

After Sir John Franklin's expedition had disappeared in the unknown Arctic world, many parties set out in search of him. The leader of one of these, Captain Austin, tried a new means of progression, and on one occasion attached sails and large kites to his sledges. This experiment seems to have met with some success, but we do not hear of it being attempted again, although ice-boats are sailed as an amusement during the winter months on the frozen lakes and rivers of Canada and the United States. Snow-shoes are widely used in Canada during the winter. Hunters and trappers make long journeys over the snow in search of fur or visiting their traps.

Of late years explorers have turned their attention to the South Pole, and in Antarctic regions not only dogs but small, hardy ponies have been employed.

In Lapland, the most northern country of Europe, the natives keep large herds of reindeer, and they use these animals to draw their sledges, which are shaped like boats, being flat at the back and with high-pointed prows. The reindeer are harnessed by leather traces fastened to their collars, and the reins are tied to their horns. The harness is hung with small bells which jingle merrily as the sledge flies across the hard snow. Old writers say that these animals were so swift that they could carry their masters for two hundred miles in a single day. This, of course, is merely a traveller's tale, but they can really go fifty or sixty miles in twenty-four hours.

Sledges are used in other European countries and especially in Russia, where the winters are long and hard. The Russian sledges are very picturesque, with their four horses harnessed abreast and their drivers wearing great padded coats and fur gloves to protect them from the intense cold. Sledging in Russia is, however, not without its dangers, and there are many stories of travellers who have been frozen to death, and of others who have been overtaken and killed by wolves as they drove across the snow-covered plains and through the forests.

A writer of fifty years ago tells us of an exciting experience which he and a fellow-traveller had when journeying in the Volga district after a heavy snowstorm.

It was early morning when they started, and the road was a very lonely one. They had not gone far when six large wolves were seen, and although these animals were frightened away by a handful of burning hay being flung among them—for wolves cannot bear the sight of fire—they soon returned. Others joined them, and before long the sledge was tearing across the snow with a whole pack in close pursuit. The horses were terrified and the position seemed a hopeless one, but fortunately the travellers were armed, and when they had managed to shoot four of the wolves the others dispersed.

Sledges are also used in Austria, Germany, and Holland, and in many museums quaint old Dutch sledges can be seen, shaped like armchairs and richly gilded and painted.

These dainty sleds were pushed, not drawn, and in them the fair-haired Dutch maidens of former days were taken for merry excursions by their brothers and boy friends along the smooth highways of the frozen canals.

ENGLISH SLEDGE.