41
of all that died both in Muttamur and Burgowa. The Muttamur people draw
their water from the rapid below, which was then nearly knee deep The people
said the river had been flooded once that season, but there had been no rain for
some days previous to the out-break of cholera.
144. The nearest village down, the stream, and depending for water on it,
is Mehgaon, with a population of 149. Cholera broke out here on the 29th June,
and 9 deaths occurred. The first person attacked was a woman, who had not left
the village previously. The current of the river where they draw water is rapid,
and the Around rocky.
At Imulleca, a village a little lower down, on the other side of the stream,
the people draw water chiefly from a good well. Two deaths from cholera were
reported in July.
From four to six miles further down the stream the villages of Sarope, Pee-
puria, Munneara, and Goorgaoa, all suffered more or less from cholera.
145. North of the Pureyat, towards Punagurh, very few villages were
attacked ; the soil is a sandy alluvium, the underlying rock metamorphic. The
water-supply is drawn from wells or from large tanks. The wells are deep, the
water in the dry season lying at 35 to 40 feet from the surface of the ground.
Kusli,-a village a mile from Muttamur ; water-supply from a well 38 feet
deep. No cholera.
Nepunniah,—a village two miles from Muttamur, under the Lumeta hills;
population 169 ; soil, a sandy alluvium ; water-supply from one well only, 36 feet
deep, but containing a scanty supply of water in January. In the rains the water
is said to rise to within 10 or 12 feet of the surface of the ground. Thirty feet
from the well is a ditch, which in the rains would have several feet of water; it is
the common place of resort for the purposes of nature, and it is also much fouled by
cattle; the soil between the ditch and the well is very porous, and the people said
that when the ditch filled the well filled also. Cholera broke out here in the end of
July, and 28 deaths (17 percent of the population) occurred in a few days.
The first person attacked was a man, who had returned from Burgowan a day
,or two previously ; the next case was the man's mother.
Pururria,—about 100 yards from Nepunniah, separated from it by a large
grove of mango trees ; population 157. There are three wells, but one outside
the village was used the most: this was 24 feet deep in January; it had very
little water, but the people said that when cholera prevailed it contained more
than 5 feet. The well was without coping and the water foul. Eight deaths
from cholera occurred here,—3 in one house, 5 were children.
Bhurda,—a village half a mile from Pururria and Nepunniah, and a mile from
Punagurh, situated under the bund of a large tank, the water of which the people
drink. No cholera.
146. Punagurh,—a town with 4,300 inhabitants, 9 miles on the Northern
road from Jubbulpore. There is a Police station, and a weekly market is held. The
soil is sandy, but fertile, overlying a red gravel. The water-supply is drawn
entirely from wells, of which. there are many. Some of these were nearly dry in
January, owing to the scanty rain of the previous season; but others are very deep,
and have an abundant supply of water. Cholera visited this town very slightly, only
2 deaths in June appear in the returns furnished me; but on enquiry from the
Police there, I found 2 deaths had occurred in July and 5 in August—9
altogether, or 2 per 1,000 of the population.