5
the water in them was exceedingly pure as the laterite makes an excellent filter ;
but with the most horrible perversity the inhabitants of Belgaum have for many
years past,—but for how long I cannot find out,—been taking the surest means
possible to convert each well into a cesspool, as in the great majority of back
court-yards in close proximity to the well in it and to those in adjacent com--
pounds has been constructed what is termed a tank or pit privy, which consists of
a pit varying in depth from 24 to 10 feet and about 15 feet in circumference, which
has been excavated in the laterite and domed over, a central opening being left
into which the residents of the house defœecate. It is impossible to describe the
filth of these places. I have seen many filthy sights, but none so horrible as
those in the back-yards of Belgaum, where I have come across places where the
night-soil had fermented and was actually bursting up through the central
hole. I was informed when the filth gets into this condition a few seers of salt are
poured in and the privy is left unused for a short time until the filth has subsided.
But no one that I spoke to had ever seen a privy cleaned out. There are stated
to be 1,437 tank privies in the town, and 1,256 privies consist of a piece of matting
enclosing a small area the surface of which is supposed to be cleaned by a
private bhunghi ; there are also said to be 200 cesspools, distributed throughout
the town, so that it is easy to conceive how very impure the water supply
must be.
17. The Municipality have erected 4 public privies for the use of the
inhabitants containing 66 seats. These are all of a wrong construction, and were
extremely filthy at the time of my visit. It is not to be wondered at, when it
is remembered that there only 4 bhunghis in the service of the Municipality.
These privies consist of rubble masonry walls, and in each compartment are raised
stone foot-rests, between which is placed an iron pan, the urine guard in front
of which was invariably found to have been bent down, and the men had made
water over it on to the chunamed space in front, the consequence being that in each
compartment there was a pool of urine which was very offensive. The night-soil
is removed by a contractor who is paid Rs. 840 yearly and who keeps four filth
carts made of a porter cask placed on a common cart. The operation of filling
the carts is horribly offensive, and the liquid urine and ablution water remains
at the back of the privy or flows into a cesspool on the side, which is rarely cleaned
out. Mr. Richardson, the Deputy Collector, was good enough to have a census
taken of the number of persons visiting the privies during 24 hours, and 2,542
men and 1,364 women, or a total of 3,906 persons were counted.
18. A Halalkor cess has not been imposed, and the condition of the private
privies furnished with a receptacle, of which there are about 50 in the town, was
filthier than it is possible adequately to describe. In the compound attached to
the dispensary there is what is here termed a bhunghi privy ; but the night-soil
had all been thrown out at the back, and was putrefying and poisoning the sur-
rounding air. Another such was seen in Kassi Gulley, where the open gutters were
filled with decomposing and fermenting night-soil ; whilst whenever the privy
cannot be used on account of the night-soil fermenting, the residents apparently
are in the habit of using the surface of the ground in their back compounds ; but
in many places where there are no privies of any kind, the ground is habitually
defiled in this way. Such was particularly noted in the quarter occupied by
Madrasis, whose houses were filthy in the extreme. Night-soil was also observed
lying in the public streets, lanes, and open spaces generally.
19. The night-soil from the town is taken past the Fort and across the
road passing along the earthen dam of the tank on the north-east of the town
f o r a b o u t 1 / 2 a m i l e a l o n g t h e K u n b a r g e e r o a d , w h u r e i t t o g e t h e r w i t h t h e n i g h t - s o i l
and cutchra from the Fort is deposited in a field enclosed with prickly-pear
situated to windward of the above road. The filth is thrown into pits about
20 feet square and said to be 6 feet deep. I was informed that the process
of filling a pit occupied about a year, when it was supposed to be covered with.
B 383-b