About the Artifact
© Canadian Museum of Civilization, VI-I- 29, photo Marie-Louise Deruaz, IMG2010-0112-0003-Dm
“The use of dogs for packing is claimed as an aboriginal trait and, consequently, one preceding the regular use of dogs for drawing sleds. A packsack is sewn in the form of two pouches with a common back which is thrown across that of the dog. A loop knot is made in one end of a line, which is then put across the dog’s chest in front of the legs and drawn back along the body outside of the packsack, then crossing under the belly. The free end passes through the loop against the face of the pouch on the right-hand side, passes under the pouches and belly of the dog at the same time, makes a hitch with the line against the face of the left-hand pouch, continues over the back of the dog and the packsack, makes a loop around its own part and is returned, again over the back of the dog, to be knotted on the left-hand side with the downward part, which passed under the dog’s belly. This final knot is a double overhand.”
— Cornelius Osgood, 1936