208
All these arrangements met with the ready approval of His
Highness the Rao, by whom the expenses were defrayed.
The attached reports of Drs. Wilkins and Mason give a full
account of the operations carried on there by themselves and their staff.
Report of the Plague Epidemic in Cutch-Mandvi.
BY SURG.-LIEUT.-COL. J. S. WILKINS, D.S.O., I.M.S.
I was informed early in the morning of the 27th April by General Gatacre that
he wished me to proceed to Cutch-Mandvi with Dr. Shroff and a staff of Nurses and
to take measures against the plague which was raging there with great severity.
Accordingly at 9-30 the same morning I was on board the B. I. S. N. Co.'s steamer
" Kola," and met four nurses, one Parsee Practitioner employed on plague duty at
Bombay, one Hospital Assistant, six Ward Orderlies, who,with three ambulance carriages
and some clothing, formed the staff of future operations. After two days we arrived at
Cutch-Mandvi and were met by Major Hyde Cates, the Political Agent, and Dr.
Lowson, one of the Plague Commissioners, who had already begun operations. The
accounts given by these of the results of the devastation of the disease were very
terrible, and the work that lay before us seemed to be of a very heavy nature.
Before passing on to particulars I think it is as well to give some idea of the
city of Mandvi and its surroundings.
Catch-Mandvi is one of the largest seaport towns situated on the Gulf of Cutch,
and is of great importance as one of the centres of trade for this part of the country
trade being carried on with Zanzibar, ports on the Persian Gulf, and all along
the adjacent coasts ; also with Bombay and Karachi. The town is almost square
in shape, and, roughly speaking, covers an area of a square mile ; there are high walls
of about 20 feet in height with bastions here and there surrounding the city, and four
large gates, and some small ones. On proceeding inside the city through one of the
gates we come on a dense mass of houses mostly built of stone and evidently very
much overcrowded during ordinary times. The so-called streets are in reality
narrow and tortuous lanes, the widest part not being much more than 14 feet wide,
and most of them very much less than 10 feet wide. The houses are for the most
part built of stone and are usually one storey in height, and nearly all of them enclosed
by high walls with gateways leading into the court-yard, which is surrounded by small
rooms which are ill-ventilated, gloomy and dirty, and the lower rooms usually with-
out any plinth and sometimes below the ground level. The court-yard is generally
used as a stable for cows and other animals, and, as it is not the custom to clean these
yards, the smell from them is usually very offensive. The habits of the inhabitants
are decidedly dirty, the latrines are usually the streets, and it is said that it is not con-
sidered etiquette on the part of a stranger to enter the city before 8 a.m., up to which
hour the inhabitants use the streets for purposes of nature. There are a few latrines
attached to the walls of the city on its western side, but these are hardly ever cleaned
and the consequence of this free-and-easy method of sanitation may be well imagined,
and it is not to be wondered at that once the plague bacillus found a haven of rest
here it flourished to a great degree, for it had all its requirements, viz., filth, darkness,
dense overcrowding, and no ventilation.
The streets have no drains, and I am informed that during the rains they are in
a very muddy condition.