236 
CATTLE DISEASES. 
Strange to say the animals in good condition were those 
most disposed to be first attacked. 
On inquiry I was informed that no disease of that descrip¬ 
tion was then known in the districts from whence these oxen 
were brought, but a very intelligent Chinese drover, who 
superintended one of the depots, informed me that the affec¬ 
tion, though not often seen, was known to his countrymen as 
Low-peng or “ belly sickness; 99 that the causes were fatigue 
and bad weather, and that the remedy was rice-vjater. 
Few, if any, of these bullocks died in transit to Hong 
Kong, but almost as soon as landed many were seized with 
the most urgent symptoms, and died. 
I may mention that at one of these depots, where there was 
no shelter by night or by day, the deaths were far more 
numerous than at another where temporary mat sheds were 
erected, and that after a rainy day or a chilly night a larger 
mortality prevailed. 
Everything possible in the way or isolation of the diseased 
from the apparently healthy, and the exhibition of nourish¬ 
ing food, as well as medical treatment was tried, but without 
much success. The death list numbered sometimes thirty 
and forty a-day. So serious indeed was the loss, and so 
alarmed were the authorities, that on the sailing of the expe¬ 
dition from Hong Kong I was ordered to proceed to the 
north in a large ship freighted with oxen for the purpose of 
observing and reporting on the epizootic in its several stages. 
This report was forwarded to England for the information of 
the Secretary of State for War. 
Only those animals which appeared in good health were 
embarked for service, and every available precaution was re¬ 
sorted to for the maintenance of strict sanitary measures. Yet 
the sickness in the various transports was very great—as many 
as seventy and eighty dying in a cargo of about two hundred 
during the ten or twelve days' voyage to the rendezvous in 
North China. 
On arrival at Talen-whan Bay in Mantchuria, it was found 
necessary to disembark the entire army and encamp on the 
shores of the bay until the French were ready. No sooner were 
the southern Chinese bullocks landed than the direful malady 
ceased as if by magic, and they remained on shore about a 
fortnight, were re-embarked again, and conveyed without a 
single casualty to the landing near the Taku Forts, from 
whence many of them found their way to Peking with the 
army without a single symptom of the epizootic reappearing. 
I may notice that a large number of Japanese bulls—re¬ 
puted very hardy and enduring in their own country—were 
