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when Veterinary Lieutenant Walker visited the district in 1900. I was aware
of this and had decided, in consultation with Dr. Lingard, before leaving Muk-
tesar, that the method to be employed must be serum only.
29. I left for Rorhu, which is four long marches from Simla, on the 16th
November. When passing through Jubbal on the 3rd day, the Wazir of that
State came and requested that I would inoculate some cattle in the village of
Dhara, two miles from Jubbal, where he said rinderpest existed, and as I
intended to halt for a day at Jubbal, to allow my camp equipment to get into
Rorhu, I was glad to comply with his request.
30. Rinderpest had attacked a herd of 40 cattle belonging to some
charcoal burners in a small village close to Dhara, and there had been 30
deaths and eight of those remaining were suffering. Four cases were said to
have occurred in Dhara, a week before my arrival, but there had been no cases
since then, and this village was apparently uninfected, but as there was
danger of further contagion from the neighbouring village, the cattle at Dhara,
numbering 45, were treated with serum.
Result.—No attacks were reported after inoculation.
31. On the 21st of November I arrived at Rorhu, where I was met by the
Tehsildar, apparently a very intelligent and reliable man, who stated that the
disease had swept through Rorhu killing 95 per cent. of the 375 cattle in the
village. At the same time he informed me that he had just received a report
that the disease had broken out in Khashdhara, a large village some eight miles
further up the valley. This village was visited next day and rinderpest of
a very virulent type was found there. When the disease first broke out, the
cattle numbered 400. In less than a week, 150 had died and the villagers who
looked woe-be-gone and helpless, readily consented to inoculation. All
cattle, numbering 440, not showing visible symptoms were treated with
serum.
Result.—No attacks after inoculation.
Remarks.—This was a heavily infected village, and as the mortality in
hill cattle is seldom less than 80 per cent. the results in this
case were eminently satisfactory.
32. From Simla I proceeded to Bombay to attend as a Member of the
Board of Examiners at the Veterinary College there, but although several
outbreaks of rinderpest were reported in the North-Western Provinces
afterwards, inoculation was not practised in any, owing to objections by
owners.
33. Concluding remarks.—Considering that the number of cattle which
suffer from rinderpest yearly in India may be counted in millions, and that
the loss sustained thereby amounts to crores of rupees, the number of inocula-
tions seems to be very small. But, with the exception of the applications
received while I was engaged in editing "Notes on the Breeds of Cattle" I
think I may say that no single opportunity of pushing the system has been
lost.
34. In nearly every case disease being reported, District officers were
addressed with a view of ascertaining if inoculation would be accepted, and I
have never lost an opportunity of personally recommending the prophylactic to
officers and asking them to use their influence with owners when disease
appeared in their districts. Opposition to anything in the form of an operation
on cattle was to be expected, but a beginning has been made. A few more
results in different parts of the country, like those that followed the in-
oculation in the Simla district and Dehra, would, I think, go a long way to
remove the prejudice which now undoubtedly exists.
35. With regard to the method to be practised in future, I feel bound to
recommend that the simultaneous method should be abandoned for the present
at least, and nothing but serum used. The bile method is, as was stated in
last year's report, quite impracticable in Indian villages, and any method
necessitating blood letting and the use of bullock's blood, is regarded by the
majority of owners as an abominable thing. Nor does it appear to me that we
are justified in applying the simultaneous method. Its action on Indian
cattle has not, in my opinion, been sufficiently worked out by experiment.
In the cattle of Cape Colony it was found that it could be relied upon to