78
278. With regard to other sanitary conditions that may favour the pro-
duction of a predisposition to cholera, it would appear from the description given
of the sites of the towns and villages that suffered most severely that dampness
or imperfect drainage will not greatly affect the prevalence of cholera, excepting
in so far as obstruction to the drainage of a town may tend to endanger the
purity of the water in the wells.
279. The extent to which accumulations of filth and want of proper con-
servancy directly affect the prevalence of cholera, is not easily estimated, purity
of water being so intimately dependent on cleanliness of surface; but I think it
may be safely assumed that the mortality is greatly aggravated when cleanliness
and conservancy are not attended to.
The general immunity of the towns in the several districts compared with
the villages, so remarkable in Tables VI. and IX. must I think be in a great
measure attributed to the improvement in cleanliness and conservancy that have
been effected more or less in all districts since 1865. As regards both the city
and district of Xagpore, statistics show that the mortality from cholera in the
epidemic of the present year has been little more than one-third of what occurred
in 1865.
Cleanliness of surface, however, will not avail to ward off cholera where the
water-supply is impure. Neither at Saugor or Mundla has there been any lack of
attention to conservancy arrangements, but in the last two years both these towns
have been severely visited by cholera. Raepore, however, affords a more striking
instance ; here the people had co-operated willingly with the local authorities,
and it would be scarcely possible to bring a town into better order than I found
Raepore when I inspected it in the end of April of this year. In the middle of
May, however, cholera broke out, and in less than a month 600 persons were car-
ried on out of a population of 17,000.
280. It is not improbable that the greater mortality of the prisoners in
our jails in former years may have been aggravated by over-crowding, but as
regards the general population it does not appear that this insanitary condition
has much effect on the prevalence of a mortality from cholera. In our densely
crowded towns the ravages of cholera are not so great as in the villages, and
though in some districts the villages also have their component houses packed
together in a marvellous manner, this crowded condition was common alike to
villages that suffered severely from cholera and to those that escaped. The vil-
lages, too, which as a rule were most severely visited were the Gond villages, often
containing less than 100 inhabitants, situated on the tops of the trap hills, and
open to every wind that blows.
281. The comparative prevalence and fatality of cholera among the dif-
ferent races and castes of which the native population is composed if it could
be ascertained would I believe throw considerable light on the causes that
induce a predisposition to the distase, but unfortunately statistics bearing on
this point are wanting. The frequency with which a Aheer, a Dheemur, or a
Gond was the first person attacked in a village is worthy of remark. As regards
the Gonds, this was the case even in the district of Jubbulpore, where their
number relatively to the rest of the population is small. Instances are also given
in paras 163 and 211 where better castes of Hindoos experienced complete or
comparative immunity, while the general population suffered severely. The Gonds
are a hardy race, but they are under very few if any restrictions as regards food,
and they are less cleanly in their habits than other natives. Dhecmurs are a low
caste, chiefly employed as fishermen and boatmen, and in the cultivation of the
Singhara nut in the tanks that exist so near a large proportion of the villages
in the Jubbulpore district. The Aheers or herdsmen arc a better caste, but