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done within few hours of death. Aden being a town inhabited almost entirely by
Mahomedans such as Somalis, Arabs, etc., no objections wore ever raised there that
I know of.
In Abdul Rehman Street, No. 36, there is a Jamatkhana and this was used
as a sort of hospital and dumping ground for all cases in which the relatives did
not want their houses known. Whenever a patient died, etc., there was always
trouble about the disinfection, as various loafers used to come and make themselves
very objectionable and often used to push up against and even strike the sub-ins-
pectors and men of the gangs. On one occasion one man was more than usually
violent and at the request of the sub-inspector, Mr. Haji Kassum Yusuf, J. P.,
intervened and stopped all further riotous behaviour on the part of these loafers.
Locked houses and rooms also delayed disinfection in a great many cases.
When I first came we could always get policemen on requisition who used to stand
by while the houses were opened and disinfected. A most remarkable fact was
that the presence of a policeman at the door seemed to act as a sort of lodestone
to the occupants. For when the gangs used to go to these rooms in the first
instance they were always told that the occupants had gone off to their native
country, but as soon as a policeman appeared on the spot the occupants used to
turn up in a most mysterious way and open the door of the room. The use of
police, however, was stopped by the Police Commissioner with the result that the
number of locked houses increased, and great difficulty was experienced in gett-
ing these rooms done. As a careful watch was always kept and as soon as the
gang was seen coming towards the house the owners used to lock the rooms and
go off into the next room, house or another floor. Finally we had to resort to the
system in vogue in Central District and A Ward of putting our own locks on, so
that the people could not get into their rooms without coming to us first.
The sterilizers have been used to a very large extent indeed. All articles of
bedding, blankets, clothes, etc., were sent to them for sterilization. All clothing,
bedding, etc., from the rooms in which sick people were kept were sent to the ste-
rilizers every other day and this undoubtedly contributed to the prevention
of the spread of infection amongst the people living with and tending the sick.
The use of sterilizers has minimised the trouble and opposition formerly expe-
rienced in carrying out disinfecting operations as the people now a days have
to a very large extent got over their fear that all their kit was going to be destroyed
and damaged. I have endeavoured as far as I could to always get one or more
of the males of the family to whom the kit belonged to accompany the things to
the sterilizer and back again, and this has resulted in the people now entrusting
their things without any great objection to the members of the disinfecting staff.
This is a great step forward I consider. Also to a certain extent some of the people
owing to our staff constantly impressing on them the benefits of the sterilizers have
begun to realize the benefits of clothes, etc., being disinfected in this way and the
staff have often been assisted by neighbours coming forward and asking the parties
concerned why they were objecting as no harm would be done to their things.
There is no doubt whatsoever but that these sterilizers have been a very great boon
to the city and have assisted enormously in arresting the spread of plague.
One of the greatest benefits of disinfection is that not only are the rooms,
etc., well disinfected, but the rooms are thoroughly cleaned in the process and
there is no doubt that there is less chance of plague germs flourishing in
thoroughly cleaned rooms than in dirty, filthy rooms. As this process is going
on constantly there is no doubt that the houses in the city are on the whole