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The buildings used as stables are long sheds with thatched roofs. The lines are kept in
a sanitary condition.
There is a Police Post at May-myo, which is situated on the Shan plateau at an eleva-
tion of 3,600 feet, and is some forty miles distant from Mandalay.
The stages are Tonbo, Nyaungbaw, and Thondaung. Tonbo is at the foot of hills, the
land is low-lying, i.e., paddy fields, etc., etc. There is a good deal of bamboo jungle about. The
Tonbo stream runs alongside of the road, but once the rains commence, pools of stagnant
water are formed all over the place. The grass obtained here is rank.
Nyaungbaw is on the Zebingyi plateau. Water from a running stream ; the grass is
coarse.
Thondaung.—Good grass is procurable, but that growing on low-lying parts is most
inferior. Water-supply from a running stream.
May-myo.—The grass excepting in the swamp and its vicinity is good. Water from
wells and stream.
The Commandant informed me that all his ponies did well at May-myo. Thirty animals,
very poor in condition, were sent there as an experiment, and every one of them picked up
wonderfully. The ponies have been changed once a month. May-myo is certainly a bad place
for Surra ; if I remember rightly, a certain Mountain Battery came down from Bhamo as it
was unhealthy for the mules and went to May-myo. The result of the change was anything
but satisfactory, for they suffered heavy losses from this disease.
Mandalay.—On the 28th July I visited the lines and found that several ponies had been
isolated owing to having abnormal temperatures. I determined, however, to examine specimens
of the blood of all animals in the lines, the result being that I discovered thirteen cases of
Surra; these were isolated. On the 30th, I examined all animals found fit on the 28th, and dis-
covered two more cases. On the 1st August, I found a fresh case, and on the 5th, two more
cases,—one from among the line ponies, the other out of a batch of animals that had arrived
from May-myo the day previous. I destroyed sixteen of these cases, and placed the remaining
two under treatment.
A party with twenty-three ponies left Mandalay on the 16th May and returned on the
21st; Nos. 12, 13, 14, and 15 were of this party.
Post-mortem Observations.
With regard to the post-mortem appearances of this disease in Burma, one lesion is rarely
if ever absent, viz., some change in the mucous membrane of the stomach, more especially of
the cuticular coat, pigmentation, erosion, or ulceration. The positions in which these changes
are most constantly met with are along the line of junction of the cuticular with the
villous portion, and also at the lesser curvature. If an animal be destroyed during the
early stages, discoloured muddy yellow patches may be observed ; if examined closely, one
or all of them may present an eroded appearance. These changes are in most cases no doubt
due to thickening and proliferation of the epithelium which degenerates and breaks down,
leaving the yellowish shallow ulcers these, owing to progressive degenerative changes, become
deeper, until in many cases, perforation occurs. The ulcers may cover an extensive surface. I
have seen some six or seven cases in which from half to three-quarters of the cuticular coat
was in an ulcerated state, and it was while making post-mortems with another officer of the
Department, that we came on two of the cases referred to, and in which no less than three-
quarters of the cuticular surface was involved. The animals from which these stomachs were
taken were destroyed, as they were suffering from Surra ; neither were in bad condition, and
were taking food up to the very last moment. Though the cuticular coat is invariably involved,
the lesions undoubtedly do in some cases extend to the villous portion, the anatomical difference,
however, naturally to some extent, alter the appearances of the ulcers, which are often seen with
a smoother flat surface, and surrounded by a ring of swollen mucous membrane.
I am of opinion that in all cases of death from chronic Surra, or in animals that have been
destroyed after the disease has been in existence for some time, that ulceration of the stomach,
more or less extensive, will be seen post-mortem.
The deep yellow pigmentation is not constant, but in nearly all cases there is a distinct
yellowish tinge about the cuticular coat. The villous portion often is in parts owing to degen-
erative changes, denuded of its epithelial lining. In some cases a large portion of the cuticular
coat may be pigmented. The color is a bright yellow, which shows up beautifully alongside of
the whiteness of the normal epithelium. Parasites (spiroptera microstoma) are constantly
found, specially in the stomachs of mules, embedded in the gelatinous mucous on the villous
coat but, as you are well aware, have nothing to do with the disease. Bots are frequently met
with, and this year. I met with a case where the bots had attached themselves to the mucous
membrane of the duodenum ; there were quite one hundred. Spiroptera nests are sometimes
seen in the stomach, I think more frequently in mules, but they are rare. Last month I was
present at forty-one post-mortems, but did not observe a single nest. I have heard it stated
that feeding on unbruised paddy might cause gastric ulcerations ; if this was the case, I am
certain that I would have noticed it in post-mortems on animals that had not succumbed to
Surra. In Lower Burma the people rarely give their animals anything else (Rangoon not
included). I always feed my Burman ponies on paddy and never think of crushing it.