10
in March the mortality in the city, which was then half deserted, had risen to
431 against 70, the normal for that time of year, with a full population. These
figures would show that the rate of mortality in Poona at this period was twice
as great in proportion to the normal population as it was in Bombay, at the
height of the epidemic in this latter city.
At this stage the Government of Bombay decided to entrust the suppression
of the disease to an European Committee consisting of three members—one Civil-
ian, one Military and one Medical, and at the same time they placed at their
disposal 900 Volunteers from the troops of the Poona Garrison. These troops
marched out of the Cantonment on the 12th of March and commenced opera-
tions the following day.
During the first week of the operations segregation was only attempted on
a limited scale, as it was at first thought impossible to deal with every infected
house in this manner and only the occupants of houses in which cases were found
by the Military were removed whilst the remainder of the cases, viz., those found
by Municipal Agency and those found by the Police were not so treated.
The work of removing the inmates was entrusted to the Native Infantry,
and after the first week a scheme was propounded and approved of by the Com-
mittee whereby the sepoys were divided up and the inhabitants of every infected
house removed.
Eight sepoys were allotted to each search party whilst the remainder were
employed in the removal of inhabitants from other parts of the town. This
scheme was found to work satisfactorily, and by the end of March the average
daily population of the Government Segregation Camp was close on 600.
The duties of the men employed with the search parties were simply to
remove the inmates of any house in which a case was found. The method adopt-
ed for the remainder of the city was briefly this : (a) daily list was furnished to
the Officer in charge of the Native troops, Lieutenant Owen Lewis, who was
accompanied by a Native guide. The various houses marked were visited ; on
arrival at a house, it was surrounded by the soldiers and every one on the
premises removed to the Segregation Camp.
The occupants were allowed half an hour to collect their bedding, cooking
utensils, and a change of clothing, and one was left in charge to look after the
house. The employment of the hard-and-fast rule that every one actually
on the premises should be removed was found to be the only way of avoiding
the numerous complaints and excuses that would otherwise have invariably
been offered.
As soon as the people understood this, but very few complaints were made,
and as a proof of the excellence of this system during the whole course of the
epidemic, only one man was found to have been removed without apparent
justification and this man was set free.
After the troops had been engaged in the city about a month the work of
segregation became more difficult, as it was found that the inhabitants cleared
out of the infected houses during the hours it was known the troops were out,
and it became necessary to adopt new methods.
Two or three times a week a party of sepoys, under Lieutenant Owen Lewis,
visited the city about 10 o'clock at night and those infected houses in which
traces of occupation but no occupants had previously been found were searched,
. and any one found there removed.
A large majority of the people sent to the Segregation Camp were found
in this manner, who otherwise would never have been discovered.
The arrangements for the housing of the people in the camp during the
period of segregation was as follows :—
An area of ground, nine acres in extent, was rented at a convenient
distance from the city, and 60 grass huts separate from one another were
erected in lines in order that, on a case of plague occurring in any of
them during occupation, it could be easily vacated and disinfected
without greatly disturbing the regime of the camp. Each line and every
hut was numbered for convenience and the newest arrivals in camp were,