24
[CHAP. I., Ρr. III.
V.
He continues—
"At Trimbak in the Nasik District I had one well-authenticated case. The town had
been wholly evacuated for some time, but the servants of the Trimbakeshwar temple were
very reluctant to leave, but eventually did so. They had been camped out for some, ten days
or a fortnight, and were quite free from illness, when two of them suddenly developed symp-
toms of plague ; and on enquiry I found that they had surreptitiously entered the granary of
the temple a night or two previously, and had removed some grain to their Camp. Only the
men who had entered the granary suffered, showing apparently that it was the building and
not the grain which was infected."
But these are but minor instances : and the cases now to be cited show that the increase
of the danger is in proportion to the number of people that return thus to an evacuated and
infected Town :—
VI.
The epidemic in Surat City (September 1897—April 1898) was dying out in February 1898
when the compelled return of the people to the city revivified it. The following is the Collector's
report :—
" The end seemed within sight when unexpectedly a cyclonic downfall of rain—most
unusual at the season—occurred throughout the district on the 9th February 1898. The
immediate and necessary result was the return of all the persons camped outside the city and
the villages to their houses. The ill-effects of this move were shown in the increased
mortality of the next and following weeks."
VII.
It was the same in Palánpur Town ; for Lt. Rainier, I. M. S., reports :—†
" Unfortunately the occurrence of the Diwali Festival caused a great number of people
to return to the town : resulting in a rapid increase of the disease."
VIII.
So at Kaládgi :—‡
"As regards our one outbreak in Kaládgi, we learnt that evacuation of houses promptly
was the best method of prevention : infection to those living in the fields did not extend
beyond 10 days after evacuation ; and in two cases people returning to sleep in their houses
were infected by plague and died. The people were kept in their fields over two months,
and no cases have occurred since re-occupation."
IX.
Similarly in Cutch-Mandvi : — §
" When the cases rose suddenly to 44 in the first week in May the people began to turn
out in large numbers, and by the middle of May there could not have been more than 4,000
to 5,000 people left in the town out of a population of between 35,000 and 40,000. The
majority remaining in were weavers who have their looms in their houses and the Maho-
medans of all classes. A certain number of these latter were also got out ultimately, and the
Darbár assisted them to the extent of distributing Rs. 1,200 amongst the poorest of them.
No sooner, however, bad we got some of the Mahomedans out than a heavy storm came on,
and they at once bolted back to their houses, with the result that latterly the Mahomedan
quarter was attacked and they kept the plague going."
X.
So at Porbandar :— ****
"Plague broke out in Porbandar Town in May 1898 amongst the Khárwás. The
isolation of the Khárwás proving ineffectual, the complete evacuation of the town was
decided on, and carried out by the 25th May. Between this date and the 12th June only
4 cases occurred. Unfortunately on the 11th June the monsoon burst and the people had to be
permitted to return to their houses. This re-occupation was followed by a severe outbreak
amongst the Khárwás, which spread so rapidly, that, after arrangements for water-tight
accommodation had been made, complete evacuation was again insisted on."
* No. B. P./3655 of 26th/28th May 1898.
† Letter No. 488 of 23rd June 1898 from the Superintendent, Land Records and Agriculture, S. D., to the
Collector of Bijapur.
‡ Lt. Rainier's report No. 74-B of 9th May 1898.
§ Political Agent's Annual Report for 1897-98.
**** Political Agent, Kathiawar's No. 408 of 25th April 1899.