302 THE OLD BERKS HUNT 



as first whip, and is now huntsman to that 

 pack. 



Albert Maiden came as second horseman to 

 Povey, and subsequently became second whip. 

 He is now first whip and kennel huntsman to 

 Mr. Butt-Miller, of the V.W.H. (Cricklade). 

 Mr. Van de Weyer at once set about im- 

 proving the pack. He gave Lord Ports- 

 mouth, when the latter reduced his hunting 

 days, 600 guineas for ten and a half couples 

 of hounds, being all the entered bitches in his 

 Lordship's small pack. In 1884 he bought a 

 few couple of entered hounds from Mr. E. 

 Frewen when that gentleman sold the hounds 

 with which he had hunted the East Sussex 

 country. In 1885 Mr, Van de Weyer bought 

 the Belvoir and Brocklesbury young drafts. 

 He also established a hound book, in which 

 certain pedigrees were very carefully recorded 

 for his guidance in future breeding. No more 

 energetic efforts could have been made to 

 improve what was already a good pack. 



In the summer of 1885 an outbreak of rabies 

 unfortunately occurred in the kennel, which 

 almost swept off the whole of the dog pack. 



The disease was believed to have been 

 started by a hound that had been bitten by 

 a strange dog in the streets of Faringdon. 

 Fortunately the young hounds had not been 



