1875 DOG-SICKNESS. 175 



health of all was excellent. The frost-bites certainly 

 would not have occurred had the travellers been more 

 experienced. Precept and admonition are of little 

 avail beforehand ; experience alone will teach men 

 that a long journey can be performed after the feet 

 have lost all circulation. The face also may be frost- 

 bitten without a person being aware of the fact until 

 informed by a companion that his nose, cheeks, or ears 

 have become a dead white. So long as the stinging 

 sensation of being cold is felt all is safe. One of our 

 worst cases occurred in consequence of the traveller 

 neglecting to remove his solidly frozen foot-gear, 

 trying instead to thaw it off inside his blanket-bag. 



By this time a heavy mortality had occurred among 

 our dogs, fifteen out of the thirty originally embarked 

 having succumbed to disease, run away, or been neces- 

 sarily destroyed. Though the animals had been 

 selected with great care from districts in North Green- 

 land supposed to be uninfected, the mysterious disease 

 which of late years has prevailed amongst the dogs in 

 the Danish settlements soon made its appearance in our 

 packs. Apparently healthy dogs were suddenly seized 

 with this strange disorder, generally falling down in 

 fits not unlike epilepsy. The spasms of the poor animals 

 in these cases were most painful to witness. During 

 the intervals between the frequent fits they roamed 

 about unconscious, foaming at the mouth, and snapping 

 and biting at the other dogs, or at anyone who came 

 in their way. When in this condition they would go 

 overboard into the water, or try to run on thin ice, 

 which in their healthy state they would never have 

 ventured on. The Eskimo dog has a great horror of 



