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epidemic form in October 1899. December/1899 was marked by a very high rise
in the number of Plague cases, until it reached its climax in March. There was. a
decline in April, but not so marked as in the previous year. In the preceding year
the number of Plague cases in April was -37, whereas there were 120 cases in April
1900. The total number of Plague cases in the Market Section, during the present
epidemic, has been 1,040. The mortality from other causes increased with the
number of Plague cases. A notable feature during the year under reyiew has been
a very high infant mortality.
Dhobi Talao.r—With the exception:of a few sporadic cases there was. not much
Plague in Dhobi Talao Section, until the beginning of October 1899, when it
gradually increased and reached its maximum in March, continuing in a more or
less virulent form through the first two weeks of April and then gradually
declined. The community which suffered most was that of the lower class Hindus.
Between May 28th, 1899, and May 26th, 1900, there were 338 Plague deaths and
208 Plague-suffering cases amongst Hindus and only 14 Plague deaths and 39 Plague-
suffering cases amongst Parsis. The compnrative immunity amongst the latter is
due to their immediately vacating their houses on rats dying and taking advantage
of their own health camps. Eats were in nearly every case the source of infection.
Plague, as a rule, reappeared in houses attacked last epidemic, but a particular
row of buildings in Girgaurn Road, which had many cases last year, showed very few
this year. Vice versa houses, which were free last year, escaped this year,
Bhuleslmar.—In Bhuleshwar Section the epidemic did not commence until the
beginning of the present year. There were a few mild cases in December 1899.
Kika Street and all the Bhoiwadas suffered the most. Some houses, even after suit-
able alterations had been carried oat, could not shake off the infection. Dr. Bardi
is of opinion that the old debris and rubbish employed in the reconstruction of these
houses may have something to do with it. Many of the first cases came from
Mandvie Ward—especially those in Maruti Lane—Fopul Wadi, amongst Brahmin
cooks employed by rich Hindus living in Mandvie. The Lohauas and the Brahmins
were the heaviest sufferers, the others escaped, possibly because a majority of them
left their houses for health camps in Dadar and other suburbs.
Fanaswadi.—Plague in epidemic from in Fanaswady showed itself in the latter
part of December, gradually declining in April and May, Much the same loealities
were effected as in the preceding epidemic and the direction taken was practically the
same throughout the Section, In almost every house, where there were Plague cases,
rats may be attributed as the chief cause of infection. In Navi Wacly, tenanted chiefly
by Parbhus and high caste Brahmins, history pointed to dead rats having been
found in one or two houses, and the whole street was immediately deserted, the
people going to the suburbs or to their private health camps.
Kumlarwada.—During the months of July, August, September and October
1899, cases of Plague were frequently detected amongst persons who had come to
Bombay from other places such as Satara, Karad, &c. It began in an epidemic form
in Kumbarwada from the middle of December, The houses which had the worst
histories during the preceding epidemic were the first to be attacked during the last :
when once it assumed epidemic form it broke out in all parts of the section
simultaneously. The low caste Hindus suffered the most. The following Streets,
Bhandari, Kumbarwada and Duncan Road, were considerably over-crowded before
the epidemic stage began by emigrants from Kathiawar, but chiefly by people from
Karad and Wai Districts, 1st and 2nd Carpenter Streets owe their comparative
immunity and low death-rate to the fact that numbers of them moved into the
suburbs, It must be remembered that most of the houses in Kumbarwada are
insanitary hovels, many of them not fit for a dog much less a human being to