190 THKOUGH THE MACKEJSTZIE BASUST 



He was a wonderful little animal; he never seemed tired 

 or weary; he was always ready and willing to follow the 

 track beater, or the sled ahead of him; for three-fourths of 

 the entire journey he acted as foregoer or leader of his own 

 team. Years of association with these dogs naturally brings 

 about an almost human regard or affection for them, and 

 their death frequently seems a personal loss. 



Although much more of an interesting nature might be 

 related of this and other northern hauling dogs, the writer 

 will conclude with a few remarks regarding the appearance 

 of what, from the perceptible symptoms, must have been 

 English dog distemper. In summer it was usual to send 

 the Fort Simpson dogs to Big Island, at the west end of Great 

 Slave Lake, where fish are more or less abundant all the 

 year roimd, to be well fed until the autumn. Early in 

 October, 1869, my team of dogs arrived with the first fish 

 boat from that point; but, to my deep regret, I found 

 that two of the best had been ill for over a week and utterly 

 unable to walk or even stand up, and they had to be carried 

 from the river to a picketed yard adjoining the of&cers' resi- 

 dence. Their hinder parts seemed to be entirely paralyzed. 

 As they were strong and tried animals, I naturally desired 

 to have them with me on my then contemplated trip to Eort 

 Garry (now Winiuipeg City). Knowing that there were 

 several boxes of HoUoway's celebrated pills among the post's 

 store of medicines, I determined to test their vaunted vir- 

 tues by ascertaining if they were equally efficient in canine, 

 as they claimed to be in human, ills. I ibegan by giving 

 them each a dose of five pills, night and morning. After 

 one week's course I reduced the number, to three, and at 

 the end of the fortnight there was a perceptible improve- 

 ment, which became more marked and assuming as the weeks 

 went by. About the middle of November T began to har- 

 ness and drive them slowly around. The two convalescents 

 staggered a great deal, and this continued for some days; 

 but a short time prior to our departure, on November 30, 



