280
[CHAP. IX.
" Kodihál, newly infected during the week, is about 12 miles north of Ilkal, and is
almost entirely surrounded by the Nizam's Territory. The cases are confined to an
isolated quarter of the village which has been evacuated. A Hospital Assistant has
been despatched there."
The Collector, in consultation with Dr. J. Thomson, and other officers, drew
up a scheme of plague operations for the Hungund Taluka, so far the only one infected.
The decisions arrived at were that Temporary Assistant Surgeon R. B. Redkar, with some
Hospital Assistants, should at once visit every village as it \vas infected. The number of
infected villages rose rapidly ; 8 returning cases on the 11th November, 13 on the 2nd
December, and 20 on the 30th December. The measures in the villages themselves were
eminently successful ; but no sooner did one village shake itself clear of plague than two
more were attacked. At first the infection was confined to the Hungund Táluka, but on
the 1st December 1898 the Collector reports the fall of Krishimpur and Kesarbhárv
(Hungund Taluka).
Evacuation was carried out in the most prompt and thorough manner ; but the
Collector was short-handed. Dr. J. Thomson and Assistant Surgeon Redkar were no longer
able to keep pace with the spread of the pestilence in their flying visits to newly-infected
villages ; heavy rain fell towards the middle of November, which resulted in the people
taking french-leave and returning to their houses in the town ; and the village officials were
in some cases unequal to the demands of the occasion.
Lieutenants H. Eoss and H. B. Birdwood, I. S. C., were, therefore, sent in Decem-
ber 1898 to strengthen the Collector's hands ; and the Surgeon-General with the Govern-
ment of Bombay was asked to send him more Hospital Assistants.
Meanwhile inoculation under Dr. Thomson was steadily progressing ; 4,962 persons
having been inoculated by the 9th of December. Bvacuation-in-advance was tried experi-
mentally in several villages which were seriously threatened, the people willingly co-operat-
ing. In this connection the Collector says :—
"I cannot sufficiently praise the docility and prudence of the people of Bábleshwar, who
have now without the slightest fuss vacated the entire village in two days, and camped in
the fields ....
I have found it necessary to cause four more villages around
Nidoni and adjoining Jamkhandi and Kurundvád Territory to be evacuated as a precau-
tionary measure."
At the beginning of December the circle of infection grew still wider. The Collector
reports :—
" Plague has now unfortunately appeared in a totally different part of the district.
During the week under report two villages of Bijápur Taluka were found to be infected, viz.,
Kákhandiki (population, 4,142) and Nidoni (population, 1,982). The distance between the
two is 9 miles. In both cases the infection is supposed to have been introduced from the
Dhárwár District, although the villagers do not admit it. The former village was already
badly seized by the time the fact was discovered, and as both the village officers are reported
to have died, and the people are scattered in the fields, there has been some delay in getting
daily returns. Unfortunately, the Mámlatdár of Bijápur, who showed great energy in visit-
ing the villages and making the preliminary arrangements, had to come back to Bijápur on
account of an illness which has since terminated fatally. I have sent Dr. Thomson with one
Hospital Assistant to visit the infected localities. He has also been given a Civil Assistant.
An additional Head Κarkun and 3 extra Circle Inspectors have been put on plague duty in
the Táluka. Special police have been posted in both the infected villages."
The figures for indigenous plague, week by week, up to the end of 1898, of
Bijápur District, with the number of villages infected, were as follows:—