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Saran.—No portion of this district altogether escaped cholera in 1869
The first case reported occurred in January in the village of Karpubya in
the centre of the district. No case was reported in .February. In March
four cases occurred in villages not far distant from Karpubya. In April the
disease broke out in the north-western portion of the district, 40 miles distant
from Kurpubya; during May it was general throughout the district. The
first case in the town of Saran occurred in May; no cases occurred in the
civil station. Cholera appeared in the town of Chaprah on the 17th July
1879, and on the following day in the district jail. The following is the
return of cholera deaths in the district during the year, but the figures are
believed to under-rate the mortality:—
Months.
January
February
March
April
May
June
Deaths.
1
0
4
51
2S6
378
Months.
July
August
September ...
...
Total
Deaths.
949
1,374.
332
8,375
Tirhut.—This district was visited by a very severe epidemic of cholera
in 1869.
The disease was most prevalent in the north-east and eastern
portions of the district. The first case was reported on the 9th April in a
village about 50 miles due east of Muzaffarpur and about 20 from the eastern
border of the district. On the 3rd May the disease had spread as far west
as Durbhanga, where it continued to rage for a month and a half; upwards
of 1,000 deaths were reported by the police. The first case at Muzaffarpur
occurred on the 9th May, but here the epidemic did not become very severe.
The epidemic lasted until the end of September, and according to police
reports, carried off 10,442 persons. The Civil Surgeon believes that this number
might be nearly doubled. When the disease first began to spread in the
district a very dry west wind was blowing strongly for several weeks, the
difference between the dry and wet bulb thermometer averaged from 18° to
20°, and the sub soil moisture was very deficient.
Champaran.—Cholera is endemic here. The first case in 1869 occurred
on the 15th April in a village in the Sogaon circle, the disease advanced from
the western to the eastern part of the district gradually and steadily, though
not quickly. At Mitihuri, the first case occurred in the person of a female
beggar on the 24th June; the last on the 30th October : total deaths 22. No
Europeans or Eurasians were attacked. Cholera raged in this district from
April till November during the driest and also during the wettest weather,
but with varying severity. The number of cholera deaths reported is 4,230
and of attacks 5,816.
Midnapur.—No report furnished.
Balasore.—No report furnished, but cholera is stated to have been present
in the town and district in April. Thirty deaths were reported in the town
from cholera during the month ending 20th April.
Cuttack.—Cholera was less prevalent than usual in this district in 1869.
comparatively few cases occurred in the city, and only a few villages situated
near the roads along which pilgrims passed to and from Juggarnath suffered
from the disease. From Chowdar, a village on the pilgrim route, about 6 miles
from Cuttack, 29 deaths from cholera were reported. It is a very filthy
place, abounding with sickening smells, and with streets so narrow that in
passing along an umbrella cannot be held over the head.
Puri—Cholera appeared in the early part of the year, and continued till
August after the rains had finally set in. In villages near Puri, where
insanitary conditions abound, the reported mortality was great. The villages
farthest removed from the sea and on the pilgrim routes suffered the most.
The divisions of the district along the coast returned only 23 out of 1,089
total deaths from this disease.
The incidence of the cholera of 1869 among the troops and jails in the
Bengal Province is shown in the following abstract statement.
Among the European troops—total average strength 3,718—there were 7
admissions and 2 deaths, giving a death-rate of 0·54 per mille of strength.