MY LIFE IN THE ANIMAL TRADE 35 
steps until after I had been able to inspect them on their 
return home. So nothing was done. When, however, a few 
weeks later, the animals arrived in Germany, we discovered 
to our dismay that they were all suffering from glanders. In 
spite of our care, the disease proved fatal in every case; all 
the creatures either died or had to be put out of their misery. 
The cause of the illness seems to have been the bad meat 
which was supplied by the unscrupulous contractor in England. 
Here was a pretty mess! All the hopes I had founded 
upon the now famous achievements of my magnificent troupe 
Fuegian family. 
were in the space of a few days dashed to the ground. Yet 
I was only at the beginning of my troubles. I set to work to 
make up new troupes, but death, though in a different form, 
overtook these also. During the first part of 1892 numberless 
inmates of my menagerie were seized with an extraordinary 
illness. They began by being afflicted with vomiting and 
diarrhcea, and later fell into convulsions, usually dying within 
afew days. Both young animals and adults were attacked 
by this inexplicable ailment, though the latter for the most 
part recovered. The most expert veterinary authorities were 
as completely mystified as myself. Only later did the correct 
explanation of this grievous pestilence become clear. In 
3 
