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others, but he could not, strange to say, get one child brought to him. I col-
lected the village folk at my tent, and told them that I believed they rather
liked the idea of an outbreak of small-pox amongst their children, and would
no doubt be quite happy if a good many of them were to die from the disease,
as they would then be free from all the troubles and difficulties incidental to
rearing up children, and would be relieved of all marriage expenses, &c. when
they grew up. Of course they denied any such wish on their part; and to prove
that they did believe in vaccination, no less than 82 were brought up during the
course of the day, and vaccinated in my presence " arm to arm." There is no
doubt that this step prevented a severe outbreak of small-pox at Mokher, for
shortly afterwards I heard that some grown up children who had not been pre-
viously vaccinated, had caught the disease, and one or two died ; but those vac-
cinated on the day above mentioned escaped entirely.
On the 29th March I inspected the children at Teykapar and surrounding
villages on the borders of the Bhutoria Circle, and while there saw 35 cases
from Bindrai recently vaccinated, having splendid vesicles and crusts on their
arms. In this village, as at Mokher, the Vaccinator at first could get no children
to operate upon, until small-pox had broken out among them, when he again
proceeded there and vaccinated 40 cases varying in age from 4 to 16 years, with
the effect of entirely checking the disease, not however until some 5 or 6 grown
up boys and girls had died. Here too the effect of vaccination in checking
small-pox has been vividly, although painfully, brought before the eyes of
the people, and I feel sure that here, as at Mokher, the Vaccinators will have
little difficulty in future years.
I also saw a child from another village who was successfully vaccinated
during the time that its mother was suffering from severe small-pox, and who
remained perfectly secure from the disease.
The foregoing cases show nearly all the places where true small-pox has
appeared during the year. In most of the other villages the outbreak has been
chiefly of chicken-pox of a very mild type indeed, and causing the sufferer little
or no inconvenience.
At Chhindwara I saw two such cases, one a native child, and the other
the child of the European Inspector of Police ; in both the attack was of the
mildest. It would, 1 think, be a good plan if such cases were reported in their
vernacular names, for the difference between the two diseases is as well under-
stood by natives as by Europeans, but in the returns they all appear as small-
pox, and thus cause needless alarm and much unnecessary confusion.
I have myself no doubt that the efficacy of vaccination against small-pox
is really believed in by the people generally, rich and poor, and more especially
by the Gonds, who now are the first to bring up their children, whereas in former
years they usually ran away on the approach of the Vaccinators. There are of
course a few who object on interested motives, such as Brahmins, and others, as
Malguzars and Banias, who, while believing in the virtues of vaccination, put
off vaccinating their children from day to day on the plea of their being too
young and likely to suffer more severely than older children.
It is not improbable that many cases of small-pox have their origin from
cow-pox in cattle, more especially when it is known that these are stalled under
the same roof as their owners.
Almost every year an epizootic of cow-pox occurs, and immense numbers
die, but no segregation of the sick from the healthy oxen is ever made, and the
disease therefore spreads from house to house and village to village very rapidly.