216
it. I gave them the services of Dr. Van Ingen and a Mahomedan assistant, and this
plan was carried out until the first week in June, when, owing to the kindness and
humanity of Mr. Jairaj Pirbhoy of Bombay, a staff of nurses and assistants were sent
here, and the sick were then transferred to a Dharamshala opposite the Mahomedan
Hospital, and were here properly looked after. The only regret is that these were not
sent out earlier when the disease was so virulent amongst all the people. These
nurses also took charge of the nursing of the sick in the Mahomedan Hospital opposite
them, as they could spare the time, and were anxious to do as much as they could for
the sick. The following are the returns of this Hospital up to 21st June :—
Admitted.
29
Discharged.
17
Died.
3
Remaining.
9
Δ great many of these cases were convalescent when admitted, and that explains
the low mortality.
Salaya Village and its Hospital.—The village of Salaya on the eastern bank of
the river Rukmavati is about a mile and-a-half away from the city of Mandvi. The
village consists chiefly of Mahomedans who are boatmen and fishermen. The popula-
tion is about 4,000 souls. The houses are chiefly built of bricks and mud, and there
is a clean look about the outside of the place. The inside of the houses are, as in
most Mahomedan places, shut out from the light and air, and the rooms are gloomy
and dark. They are ignorant and rather inclined to be fanatical, and the usual
answer that one obtained to any remonstrance about the treatment of their sick
by their method was that it was "God's will, and if they were to die they
must die." It will be seen from this that any efforts to isolate and segregate
and to introduce house visitation would not be welcome, and it was only very
gradually that they began to see the benefits of having their sick treated separ-
ately and the blessings of good nursing and looking after. I do not think even
now that they quite appreciate our efforts, and it was only on sheer compulsion
that they have been made to give in to us and they still evade search parties and die
in their houses without proper treatment. The isolation of their sick was their first
concession, and we built them a few sheds not far from their village and had some of
their sick people removed into them. After this they began to take our medicines,
and finally they allowed our medical subordinates to look after their sick and our
nurses to treat their wounds. While these measures were being introduced, a great
many of their people were dying from the disease in their houses, and the death-rate
amongst these people is very high indeed. As there is no pucca-built house where
their sick can be placed for the monsoon months, I have had some rows of huts
constructed for them with plinths, and made as watertight as possible.
These people have suffered very severely from the epidemic and when the disease
is practically stopped amongst the townspeople, they even now have a larger pro-
portion of sick in Hospital and have not yet got rid of the disease owing to their
stupid prejudices.
It was very difficult to know exactly what number of sick they had in their sheds
and houses, and the returns were not correct till the 12th May when a proper system
was allowed.
Both Dr. Yersin and Dr. Simond were anxious to preventively-inoculate these
people, but they were so adverse to it that they refused to submit although some of
their head men were inoculated as an example.
The following are the returns for this Hospital :—
Admitted.
235
Discharged.
40
Died.
335