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which was carried up from Madura and thence on to Keelavalavoo, a small village six miles west
of Mailore. It also broke out at Ramnad on the 20th March, and in five days fifteen deaths were
registered.
" From Nellacotta and Buttlagundu the disease was carried on by travellers and bandymen, along
the main road, to Pereacolum, and from thence diffused all over the talook, which is not quite free
from it yet, and has suffered very much. 213 deaths were registered up to the end of June, and 184
from July to end of November (in all 397 since April 18th).
" In April only six deaths took place in Madura town, and in May six, the last being on the 24th,
and from that date it ceased in the town.
" It held very slightly to Mailore and Keelavalavoo in April, and four cases occurred at Oosslum-
putty early in the month ; the only portion of the district which suffered in that month being the
Pereacolum Talook.
" In May it was confined to Madura town and Pereacolum Talook with one death in Dindigul, but
towards the end of June it broke out afresh in the Zemindaries almost simultaneously at Sheva-
gunga and Teruvandani, and Tondy again within a few days.
" As far as I have been able to trace this new outbreak it appears to have been undoubtedly
introduced by return coolies from Ceylon, six of whom died on board ship at Davipatam or imme-
diately on being landed.
" The Ceylon Government have a Native Doctor and Hospital at Davipatam.
" From this centre in July cholera spread in lines clearly traced by the various main roads,
throughout the Zemindaries of Ramnad and Shevagunga, penetrating on both sides to the borders of
the district adjoining Tondiman in the north and Thinevelly in the south, while by the main road from
Davipatam and Ramnad it entered Madura town again on the 9th of August when two pilgrims died.
Thence the main wave of the disease spread northward in the Mailore Talook, which, in company with
the Zemindaries, suffered a great deal in August.
" One or two isolated cases occurred at Pulney and Dindigul, but the disease seemed to fix itself to
the filthiest localities in Mailore Talook, Shevagunga, and Ramnad Zemindaries and Pereacolum Talook.
" In August 100 deaths were registered from Mailore Talook, and in September eighty-eight,
after which it ceased there. In July and August the Ramnad or Southern Zemindary reported 278
deaths, while the Northern Shevagunga gave thirty-seven only.
" In Madura town 142 deaths occurred in August and fifty-three in September. Ramnad town
suffered most in September with a few cases in Pulney Talook, while the disease still clung to the
Pereacolum Talook ; but in October it suddenly increased, and with new impulse seized on Ramnad
where seventy-two deaths were reported against thirty in September. The other parts of this
Zemindary gave fourteen deaths in September and 130 in October and November ; in the latter
month the disease appears to have told chiefly in the port of Keelacurrai, south of Ramnad nine miles,
and may be accounted for by the change of monsoon to north-east, when the place is in almost daily
communication with Ceylon, where, I believe, cholera has been somewhat severe.
" The whole number of deaths for the district, reported from January to 30th November, amounts
to 1,847 ; but this is not accurate, because in the early part of the year only deaths at Police Stations
were given, and it was not till the end of July that reports were received from villages generally.
" As a general principle cholera has been worst where most filth exists. At one place, Keeranoor,
where most deaths occurred in the Pulney Talook, the filth close to the houses around the village is
something beyond conception, and in the Pereacolum Talook fully one-half of the area of each village
is taken up for cattle pens, which are open to the weather, and a perfect mass of filth, fresh as well
as putrid, while every open space close to the village is thoroughly saturated with urine and droppings
of cattle and sheep. I consider this fully accounts for the pertinacity with which cholera has stuck
to this particular talook, especially when taken in conjunction with frequent showers of rain.
" Rain and sun in the dirty villages of Mailore Talook, and the Zemindary of Ramnad have also,
I consider, caused the disease to take more firm hold than it otherwise would when the drier parts
of the district have not suffered so much."
P.S.—"Pilgrims to Ramisseram have not suffered much; indeed at Paumben they had no
cholera, and Ramisserarn itself was said to be free from it. (I have been there and made inquiries.)
" The pilgrims from the North-West Provinces of India are usually very healthy ; it is the
people from the Western Coast and Travancore who suffer from disease and usually multiply cholera
when it does break out. The North-West Province men eat fish, whereas the West Coast Brahmins
do not, and are also much dirtier in their habits, and whole meals of uncooked and unripe vegetables
must tell upon them."
N