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In Sind cases of equine surra are sometimes found still alive at the end
of January; this shows how long the fly-season must be; probably a few
" dhang " remain in November.
Camelmen readily agree, when it is pointed out to them, that 2 and
2½ months are not enough to wait before bringing the camels back to the river-
grazing. Various reasons for this early return are given, such as, the failure
of water-supply for the camels in the desert, or the withering of the grazing
there, or business awaiting transactions at home or the inconvenience of re
maining out in the desert.
I am inclined to think the last three reasons are the real ones. In Sep
tember the camelman finds the desert-grazing is going off and he is tempted to
return to the river before he need, knowing that the grazing there is good; in
ordinary years he should remain away until as late in October as possible, but
he generally comes back to the river before that time. It is better to leave the
camels on comparatively poor grazing for a few weeks in September and
October than to bring them into good grazing and expose them to the
hazardous risk of surra. No doubt, as regards his male camels, he is also
tempted to begin work as early as possible, and the work largely lies in the
riverain country.
In short he fails to avoid the disease in the late part of the Surra season,
because his other interests demand a return to the dangerous country.
The mangrove-grazing camels remain away longer than the desert-
grazing ones ; probably because their grazing does not dry up ; the drinking-
water difficulty seems to be much greater than in the case of desert-going
camels, for it has often to be brought to the camels by boats. As a consequence
of their longer sojourn away from the tamarisk and babur jungles of the
Delta, there is much less surra among Khara camels than among the Sindhis,
and the Khara camelmen take comparatively little interest in the subject of
surra. There is a large number of zamindars in Sind who own one or two
riding-camels only and have but little knowledge concerning their animals.
Their camels often remain in the riverain tracts throughout the Surra-season,
and are, in fact, often used there in the plough or for drawing water.
There is a great deal of surra among them, but the risk seems to be less
than in the case of herds, probably because these zamindars' camels are less
liable to be brought into contact with " reservoirs of infection ", that is, other
camels suffering from surra.
37. Prophylaxis in Sind.—Practically, the disease can only be fought
by the spread of knowledge concerning it among camelmen. They nearly all
know the disease, but their efforts to avoid it are, as a rule, not carried far
enough.
I must admit that I do not think that there is any medium through
which this knowledge can be quickly diffused. The Tapadars of Sind are, I
think, quite useless for the purpose owing to apathy and laziness. The veteri
nary dispensaries arc at present few and far between ; and anyone who wishes
to convince a Jat on some now point concerning the camel must be able to
talk " camel", and only a few veterinary graduates in Sind know enough about
the camel either in health or disease, although they do most useful work in the
treatment of wounds and saddle-sores and other simple ailments. The number
of camels attending some of the dispensaries for these ailments is very large.
It is clear that spread of knowledge must be slow. The question of
providing for each dispensary a small 80 rupees microscope (⅔rd and 1/6th objec
tives) is, I believe, already under consideration of the Superintendent. This
would give the veterinary graduates the means of diagnosing this wide-spread
disease without the long delays caused by sending slides to head-quarters for
examination.
The precautions which should be advised in Sind against Camel-Surra :—
(1) Keep breeding-herds away from the riverain and deltic tamarisk
(lei) and babur jungles, flood areas, inundation canal-irri
gated country, or anywhere where Tabanus ("dhang") is