This
is sometimes scarce wide enough for the komatik, and the greatest
skill is necessary on the part of the driver to keep the komatik from
slipping off the ballicader and falling and pulling the dogs into the
sea.
When the snow is soft some one on snowshoes must go in advance of the
dogs and pack the trail for them. Where traveling is rough, and in
up-hill work, it is more than often necessary to pull with the dogs,
and lift the komatik over obstructions.
In descending steep slopes the driver has a thick hoop of woven walrus
hide, which he throws over the nose of one of the runners to serve as
a drag. Even then, the descent may be rapid and exciting, and not a
little dangerous for dogs and men. The driver throws himself on his
side on the komatik clinging to it with both hands. His legs extend
forward at the side of the sledge, he sticks his heels into the snow
ahead to retard the progress, in imminent danger of a broken leg.
Winter settles early in Labrador and northern Newfoundland. Snow
comes, the sea smokes, and then one morning men wake up to find a
field of ice where waves were lapping the day before and where boats
have sailed all summer.
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