12
DARJEELING CIRCLE.
prepared for the outbreak of small-pox, almost certain to take place, the sub-inspector of
police at the thannah was requested to give early notice of the appearance of the disease.
This he distinctly refused to do; and even when ordered by the Magistrate, who was on the
spot, to do so, he allowed it to make head for weeks without affording any report. This
man's conduct was brought under the notice of the Commissioner of Rajshahye, with what
result I am unacquainted Its consequence has been that small-pox spread to Bhowanee-
gunge, Ooleypore, Foolcomar, and Baga Chur—the last, on the other side of the Berham-
pooter. These outbreaks have not yet been suppressed, though vaccinators have been
working in their neighbourhoods since information about them was obtained. The number
of inoculators returned by the police as resident in the Rungpore district is 141; the
number of vaccinators is six. It must be evident that so small a number of the latter is quite
inadequate for the instant suppression of small-pox produced by inoculation. The dis-
advantage under which they are placed is very great, as the inoculators, working with the
sympathy and connivance of the police are able to spread disease far and wide before
the vaccinators learn anything about it. At Kourgunge, to the west of Rungpore, an out-
break of small-pox occurred in January, the origin of which could not be traced. As there
was an active inoculator resident near, I have little doubt his operations were the cause of
it as, I held an investigation in a neighbouring thannah in the Dinagepore district about
the appearance of small-pox there, and discovered his fresh cases. The police, as usual, could
give no information. At Mustuffapore, in the Kourgunge dirtrict, I found that one part of
the village had been deserted. No trouble had been taken to trace the fugitives, who no doubt
carried the disease elsewhere, as after being suppressed at Hurealkotee and Mustuffapore it
re-appeared in other parts of the thannah jurisdiction.
At Borobaree there is an old Government servant who had been a dispensary vaccin-
ator in Assam, and who was practising vaccination by way of adding a little to his income.
He was getting a fair number of cases until the arrival of an inoculator, who told the people
that vaccination was useless This was also the case during the hot weather epidemic,
inoculators going boldly about the country, saying that the vaccinated were those who died
from small-pox. This, I believe, also appeared in a native paper published in the district,
and no contradiction was given it by the civil authorities, and no instructions issued on the
subject for communication to the people. In Rajshahye also I found an inoculator going
about discrediting vaccination close to a police station, the officer in charge of which took
no notice whatever of the proceeding.
No vaccinator in this district was working at the end of the season at the place he began.
6. Bograh.—There has been a considerable decrease in the number of vaccinations
in this district when compared with the previous year's return, every vaccinator, however,
operated on 2,2281/3 persons, which gives almost 15 operations a day for every man for five
months. Much beyond this can hardly be expected, as it takes some time at the beginning
of the season to establish a good supply of lymph, and towards the end the increasing
heat deters the people generally from being vaccinated. The vaccinators moreover were
being constantly moved on account of small-pox, and many days were thus lost in
merely travelling from one place to another. Supervision was also imperfect, one native
Superintendent having to attend to both Bograh and Rajshahye. This will be-remedied
next season, a native Superintendent having been sanctioned for Rajshahye.
March
1870 closed with 154 cases of small-pox in the district. It declined in April and
disappeared in May, but again broke out in October in the Gobindgunge thannah jurisdiction,
and was suppressed; in Palasbaree in December, and was suppressed; and in Suryakandee,
where as soon as it was suppressed in one place, it appeared in another, continuing, but never
making any head on account of the activity of the vaccinators. There were only five cases
returned at the end of March. I could not learn that there was any inoculation in Bograh
district, but gootee in cattle has been present for two seasons according to native report.
I do not say that this disease was the cause of small-pox. I simply remark the presence of
the two diseases, and the continual reproduction of local outbreaks without any distinctly
traceable origin. Altogether, small-pox appeared in five thannah jurisdictions during the cold
weather, and in many different villages in them, and only seven cases were reported by the
police at the end of March. Considering the small number of vaccinators—six, the result is
almost more than could have been hoped for.
I proposed to the Magistrate the advisability of the municipality of the town of Bograh
appointing a vaccinator for the special protection of the town residents. I regret to find
that his opinion is that the Bograh municipality is too poor to support one vaccinator. If
the ordinary villager engaged in agriculture can afford to pay the inoculator so well that
the class exists in hundreds all over Bengal, surely a town population such as Bograh,
containing native dealers, merchants, shop-keepers, &c., is able to support one vaccinator.