18
The average rainfall in the different tahsils is :—
Dera Ismail Khan
Kulachi
Bhakkar
Seiah
Tank
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
9.0 inches.
7.8 „
7.5 „
7.0 „
11.0 „
The climate of the district is hot during the summer and cold and bracing during the winter, the
frosts at night frequently being so severe as to kill mango and other trees.
On the whole the district is fairly healthy, though there is often a good deal of fever in the autumn
and at other seasons after exceptionally heavy rain. This fever sometimes takes a very malignant type,
decimating the population in some of the Daman villages.
The number of cattle, sheep, goats and camels kept fluctuates considerably. Most of the buffaloes
of the district are to be found in the river villages on the Indus. In good years sheep multiply fast,
but occasionally nearly the whole stock of a group of villages is exterminated owing to murrains.
There are a good many horses and donkeys in the district, the latter being kept principally by banyas
for conveying merchandise, &c.
Veterinary-Surgeon G. Evans deals in length with ' Surra' upon his investigations carried on in this
district in his report published in 1880. He states that the disease is new to science ; it is not new in
reality, for it has been only too well known to the natives of Dera Ismail Khán District for several genera-
tions as an occasional scourge. He writes : " Major Underwood, 4th Punjab Cavalry, informed me that
the 3rd Punjab Cavalry lost 350 horses from Surra at Asni near Rajanpore a few years ago."
The percentages of fatal cases among the horses of the 4th Punjab Cavalry at the outposts, with
reference to the numbers of horses there during the two past years and the year 1880 up to the end of
September, are recorded as follows :—
Years.
1878
1879
1880
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Number of cases.
33.3 per cent.
46.8
„
56.4
„
Further, it is stated that the 4th Sikhs have lost the following numbers of camels, during the years
1878—1880; " and with two or three exceptions they are all supposed to have died from Surra":—
In 1878 there died 29 camels.
„ 1879
„ 1880
„
„
41
28
„
„
And there were ten on the sick list for it in October.
The disease is known by several names, such as Khan hog, and Doaia and Surra, depending upon
the several stages. Phipri is another name by which it is known among camels.
The following in tabular form will show the number of horses that died at different outposts in
the district during the years 1878—1880, visited by Veterinary-Surgeon G. Evans in 1880, and described
in his report, pages 85—89 :—
Name of outpost.
Tank ...
Kot Nusarm
Zam
...
...
Girni
Jutta
Manghi ...
Luni
....
Zarkani ...
Draband ...
Total ...
Number of horses died.
1878.
... 13
9
7
...
15
...
21
3
68
1879.
44
...
1
4
99
11
8
...
33
200
1880.
30
1
...
...
47
36
...
...
...
114
Total.
74
14
10
11
146
62
8
21
36
382
Remarks.
" The tahsildár of Tank informs me
that a great number of horses (he does
not know how many) belonging to the
zamindars died of Surra last year (1879);
but the disease was not common for
twenty years previously, when the whole
of the Nawab's horses (about 300) died of
Surra."
In August 1895 Surra, vernacular name " Sar, " occurred in the village of Shah-doad ; three horses
died out of seven. In the same year nine more villages were affected of the Dera Ismail Khán Tahsil.
The disease is well known in some of the low-lying villages.
Multan District.
This district comprises an area of 5,880 square miles, of which more than half is Government
waste, the total population being 551,964 souls. It is divided into five tahsils, viz., Multan, Shujabad,
Lodhran, Mailsi and Sarai Sidhu ; of which that of Sarai Sidhu comprises the Ravi riverain and the