A personal present was due the visitor at these "shake hands" occasions. If he were a headman or a brave he received a pound of powder, two pounds of lead, a fish line, a knife, four fish hooks, and six plugs of tobacco. If he were "any respectable Individual" he was sure of a knife, four fish hooks, and six plugs of tobacco.[295] These individual visits did much to acquaint the natives personally with the agent, in the same way that the council impressed them with the agent's great power. But even more appreciated was the help offered in time of sickness. On December 25, 1830, Taliaferro records in his diary: "I rode up the SPeters to See an Indian.... Doctor Wood went up also--I dressed her wound--I Sent my Interpreter up with other restoratives--she being delerious."[296] On Saturday, June 28, 1834, there came to him a brave saying that both his son and daughter were ill. "Sent a message to Doct Jarvis to call & see the girl." The Sioux boy died two days later. But there the ministration did not end. To the mourners were given cotton and calico, or a blanket in order that the body might be decently covered.[297] The dread scourge of smallpox raged in the vicinity of Fort Snelling during the summer of 1832. Two Indians coming from the Missouri River were suffering from violent attacks. Immediately the disease spread. But Dr. Wood, the post's physician, was called upon by Major Taliaferro and at the end of five days three hundred and thirty Sioux had been vaccinated. It is interesting to notice that in case the Indians came to the agency Dr. Wood received six dollars for every hundred he treated, but if he went to their villages he received six dollars per day.[298] Besides these services the visits to the fort offered direct opportunity for the giving of tangible evidence of American supremacy. The English government had lavishly distributed signs of authority. During the first two years of his term of service, Taliaferro collected no less than thirty-six medals of George the Third, twenty-eight British flags, and eighteen gorgets.[299] Some of these were presented to the agent as direct evidence of submission to American authority. In 1820 two employees of the Missouri Fur Company were murdered on the Missouri River. The surrender of the murderers was demanded by Taliaferro, and while he was away the tribe came to Fort Snelling with one of the culprits and a hostage. Colonel Snelling, then acting as agent, described the scene in a letter.