356 DISTEMPER IN DOGS. 



Davis the compass by which I steered ; and we separated 

 at mine inn, when, I much regret to say that, from wet 

 feet and the cold drive home, Mr Shields was stricken 

 with his periodical return of fever and ague. For my 

 self, I ate a very hearty dinner and slept till daybreak 

 the next morning. 



In conversation with my friends at St Joseph, I found 

 that the distemper in the United States, and particularly 

 in their vicinity, was very fatal to dogs, and that insanity 

 arising from the virulence of that disease frequently, as in 

 England, was mistaken for that surely fatal malady, the 

 hydrophobia. It gave me much pleasure to impart to my 

 friends all the knowledge which my experience afforded 

 as to these matters, and I hope that by so doing many 

 dogs in America, for the future, will not only be more 

 scientifically treated, but that many a human being will 

 be saved the misery of apprehension. 



It soon became manifest to me that all customers or 

 purchasers for my camping effects and stock were holding 

 back under the knowledge that I was in haste to be gone, 

 and, therefore, that at the last moment I should probably 

 sell everything for an old song. However, on receiving 

 a bid of 115 dollars for my ambulance waggon, and a few 

 camp-fixings, I took it, though that sum was not half its 

 original cost. I knew too well the marketable value of 

 second-hand carriages, and the rough usage the springs 

 and wheels had received, to stand out for a higher price, 

 and myself and my customer were mutually pleased. My 

 young retriever Alice now had her puppies, but they died 

 soon after birth, I think from not having a sufficiently soft 

 and warm bed. These puppies were a loss to me, as I 

 could have sold them with their mother at a high price, 

 my mind having been made up to let her go, from a grow- 



