18
SONTHAL PERGUNNAHS.
7. I visited them twice a month, but found them more than once forgetful of my
instructions. It was a general notion amongst them all, that because the Sonthal children
are very dirty, sleep on a charpoy or cot without any bedding, their vesicles are easily
broken. I told them repeatedly that a true vaccine vesicle or pustule should never break of
itself, unless it is punctured by the point of a lancet, and it seldom creates any itching
sensation from the fifth day, and is not liable to be scratched by a silly child.
8. With vaccinators like those above described, the percentage of success in their work
can easily be imagined; and had I not been fortunate to have the services of one old vaccina-
tor, who became a very useful hand after a little correction, the percentage of success, as well
as the amount of vaccination for the season, would have been considerably lower than that
stated in the enclosed tables. This vaccinator alone, although unfortunately ill during
the best part of the vaccine season, vaccinated 2,777 cases with a success of about 90 per cent.
9. My monthly returns were submitted after carefully inspecting each case, and my
column " successful" in them denotes operations which were truly genuine in their nature, and
in which the vesicles pursued a fixed, regular course, slightest deviations from which I have
entered in the column of " doubt;" and although I have not tested any case by inoculating
small-pox matter, I can so far say that my successful cases remained safe amongst a crowd of
people infected with small-pox.
10. Lymph was obtained from the Superintendent-General of Vaccination of Calcutta ;
crusts were more freely used than any thing else; arm-to-arm vaccination was found generally
impracticable, as the vaccinators had to run from the place they at first began their work to
another, at a great distance, wherever small-pox occurred. This was an additional cause of
the lower percentage of success; but I hope that if the vaccinators remain in service for the
coming year a higher rate of success will be gained.
11. From my experience in the vaccine operations during the season I inferred that
generally the Sonthals in the Rajmehal district were not opposed to vaccination. The few
instances in which any difficulty was found was obviated by the timely assistance of the
district magistrate, for which I am much indebted to him. The prejudices of the people in
other sub-districts, I am sorry to remark, were great. They seemed to me not at all prepared
to receive this innovation. I cannot, however, confidently assert this, as I had very few
opportunities of being among them.
12. In conclusion, I beg to point out certain inconveniences and wants for which I
suppose the Sonthal Pergunnahs vaccine circle, although established for the last three years,
has not obtained credit like other circles of the Bengal presidency.
1st.—Every year new vaccinators are required to be sought after and appointed. The
old hands seldom like to continue their services, on the ground that their pay was not
sufficient for their living ; that they had to undergo a greater degree of troubles and incon-
veniences than their brethren in other districts; they have no prospect of promotion or
better remuneration.
2nd.—In the event of small-pox simultaneously occurring in different parts of two or
more sub-districts, the supervision of an unaided deputy superintendent may not answer the
purpose of collecting trustworthy statistics. It may be said that the deputy superintendent
would move with his whole batch of vaccinators to the infected localities in succession, which,
in my humble opinion, is greatly detrimental to the rendering of timely aid in checking the
spread of small-pox. The entertainment of a superintending vaccinator I would therefore
advocate for. This will not only serve as a stimulus to the vaccinators in general, but secure
the great object just mentioned.
And lastly, it is a fact that a well-experienced deputy superintendent of vaccination,
suited for carrying on his work with facility amongst a population speaking different
languages, must remain long enough to have a thorough knowledge of the district, a tolerable
acquaintance with its languages, an influence over the people, and, what is above all, to have
their confidence. But it is not unknown that since the last three years deputy superin-
tendents have been always changing, and it is owing to this that the organization of this
circle has not fully been established. Were I to suggest any remedial measure, I must propose
that the pay of the deputy superintendent should be increased, as in a country like this any
gentleman of a tolerably respectable position cannot hold his position with becoming dignity
by the bare pay of his grade. That without any extra amount of remuneration his extremely
laborious task would be felt too keenly to perform his duties with willingness, energy, and
zeal, is known to every body.