134 TREATMENT AT ST. JOHN'S. 



shot to him with great success, his naturally kind disposition, and great sagacity, 

 rendering his training 1 an easy task. The usual fate attends this generous race, 

 among us, they are too often degraded and deteriorated by inferior crosses ; one 

 piece of good fortune however attends them, they are not, in this Country, bred 

 beyond the demand, thence, we do not, with respect to them, witness the disgusting 

 sight of abandonment and starvation in the streets. 



This race has been known in England, and we suppose likewise upon the 

 Continent, beyond living memory, and has been upon the increase amongst us, for 

 the last twenty or thirty years. They were most probably introduced into this 

 Country, soon after the discovery, at least colonization of Newfoundland, to which, 

 and to the neighbouring Continent, they are indigenous, and at present sufficiently 

 numerous, in their original and uncrossed state. These dogs about seven years 

 since, were computed to amount to upwards of two thousand, at, and in the vicinity 

 of St. John's^ Newfoundland. They are there, by selfish and inhuman custom, 

 left during the whole summer, whilst their Proprietors are engaged in tjie Fishery, 

 to shift for themselves, and are not only troublesome and dangerous to the resident 

 inhabitants, but also public nuisances in the streets, from starvation and disease. 

 Contrary to their natural disposition, when associated with and supported by man, 

 and goaded by the imperious demands of hunger, they assemble in packs, prowl 

 about like wolves for their prey, destroying sheep, poultry, and every thing eatable 

 within their reach. On the return of the Winter season, and of their masters from 

 fishing, these last unfeeling two legged animals, seek with the utmost eagerness, 

 their lately abandoned dogs, without the assistance of which, it would be absolutely 

 impossible to get through the severe labours of a Newfoundland winter. In seek- 

 ing and claiming these dogs, much confusion, and even litigation in the Courts, 

 ensue, the value of these periodically deserted animals, being estimated at between 

 two and eight pounds each. They are constantly employed throughout the winter, 

 to draw wood cut for fuel, from the Country to St. John's, fish from the shore, and 

 all kinds of merchandize from one part of the town to the other, to the amount of 

 many hundred pounds worth in a day. It is asserted that, in one month, the year 

 1815, these Dogs furnished the town with from nine hundred to one thousand 

 pounds value per day, and that a single dog, will by his labour," support his owner 

 throughout the winter. 



In the above year, a dangerous disease, supposed to be rabies, seized the Dogs at 

 St. Johri's, and this was attributed to the bite of a Bull dog from England, but in 

 far greater probability, all circumstances considered, the disease originated in the 

 neglect and starvation to which the animals had been subjected in the summer 

 season. This opinion, in fact, received a double confirmation : many persons were 

 bitten, but in the course of some months, no symptoms of rabies appeared, and 

 farther, an experienced medical Gentleman, who had passed seventeen years in 

 Newfoundland, observed during almost every season, symptoms nearly resembling 



