The standard team is eight dogs; but for rapid traveling with a heavy load, ten or twelve are sometimes used.

They are guided by the whip and the voice.

The Eskimo whip has a lash sometimes twelve, sometimes eighteen, feet long, and so skilful are the Eskimos in its manipulation that they can send the lash flying through the air and reach any part of any particular dog they wish.

A white man can learn to use an Eskimo whip, but it takes time.

It takes time also to acquire the exact Eskimo accent to the words "_How-eh, how-eh, how-eh_," meaning to the right; "_Ash-oo, ash-oo, ash-oo_," to the left; as well as the standard, "_Huk, huk, huk_," which is equivalent to "go on." Sometimes, when the dogs do not obey, the usual "_How-eh, how-eh, how-eh_," will reverse its accent, and the driver will yell, "_How-ooooooo_," with an accompaniment of other words in Eskimo and English which shall be left to the imagination of the reader.