( 29 )
a very urgent case, inoculate a child until (to use his own phrase) his "mouth was full
of teeth." It would be interesting to know whether the percentage is exceptionally
small also in Jounpore, a district in which inoculation used to be practised. Excluding
Azimgurh, I think the percentage of young children is a pretty fair index of the spread
of vaccination in the districts recorded.
24. Re-vaccination.—This has been discouraged as much as possible, as vaccina-
tion is too recent an institution in this division to require a repetition of it. Many do
so in order to swell their list of operations. Even those deeply pitted with small-pox are
said to be re-vaccinated when operated upon for the first time ! Speedy re-vaccinations,
or the primary vaccination of those who are marked with small-pox, do great harm to
the cause. Malees point out cases of the former as an evidence of the insufficiency of
our "ticka" as compared with their own, which, they maintain, gives a life-long
protection, and the latter makes the people suspect some covert meaning.
Benares,
...
Mirzapore, ...
Ghazeepore, ...
Azimgurh,
...
Goruckpore,
...
Bustee, ...
Christian.
.6
.3
.3
.1
.3
...
Mussulman.
27.6
23.8
29.8
27.8
17.8
17.8
Hindoo.
41.1
9.6
14.6
17.3
13.6
9.6
Low caste.
30.7
66.3
55.3
54.8
68.3
72.6
25. Percentage of casts.—As might have been expected, Benares heads the list in
the percentage of high
caste Hindoos. Go-
ruckpore and Bustee
have the same percent-
age of Mussulmans,
and nearly the same
of the lower castes.
26. In order to ascertain whether Mahomedans and high class Hindoos submit
the sexes to vaccination in much the same proportion, I have had the following percent-
ages written from a total of 39,593 cases, which were extracted from the village lists:—
Percentage of sex according to caste.
All districts, ...
Christian.
Male.
46.9
Female.
53.1
Mussulman.
Male.
55.3
Female.
44.7
Hindoo.
Male.
51.2
Female.
48.8
Lower castes.
Male.
56.4
Female.
43.6
I have been told that when a Hindoo is not sure of the safety of any remedy, he
always tries the experiment on his female children ; the above table seems a confirmation
of the statement. The contrast is certainly most marked, and all the districts in detail
seem to bear out the same percentage. It does not support the assertion that the pro-
portion of females is in direct ratio to the success of the measure.
27. Kurwas.—There is a period of 40 days in the year called kurwas, which
is much observed by devout Hindoos. It is a movable period, and this year it extended
from the beginning of December to the middle of January. Nothing of the least
importance is initiated in that unlucky period. They purchase no bullocks, nor clothes,
run up no walls, nor build doors, and the charpoy is not even repaired. Vaccination
unfortunately comes also into the category of things forbidden, and no persuasion can
avail with a very strict Hindoo.
28. It seems anomalous that the amount of work should be greater in rural
districts than in towns. One would suppose that when men are massed together, where
something like education and public opinion exist, that vaccination would be more suc-
cessful. A little experience of vaccination and of Native character solves the difficulty.
The rural vaccinator on entering a village goes straightway to the house of the zemin-
dar. If a high caste man or a Mahomedan he takes the liberty of sitting on the zemin-
dar's charpoy, generally the only dignified locus sedendi in the place. He throws
away the reins of his imagination and discourses to his rustic audience about the lacs
v
8