166
[CHAP. Vii.
1 death, which first occurred in the railway suburb about the 18th January). The first two
cases were deliberately brought into the town by a couple of men living some way out of
it, near the railway, and the details are reported by the Collector on the 13th February as
follows :—
"The two cases at Ánand really occurred in some houses near the Railway which have
been infected since some time. From here two men quietly went to live in the town, which
is at a distance of ¾ of a mile : one of them died there, and the cause of death was given out
as hydrophobia, but subsequent enquiries show it must have been plague. It has not,
howevor, been included in the return. The other man was discovered ill soon after and
died in the hospital, since the close of the week. Regarding these two as cases imported
into the town, the latter cannot be regarded as yet as infected. However, the people have
taken alarm and are rapidly evacuating the town and settling into the fields."
Three cases occurring the following week, Ánand was completely evacuated : the
town being empty by the 21st February. The weekly figures were as follows :—
17th
Feb-
ruary
1899.
3 3
24th
Feb-
ruary
1899.
1
3rd
March
1899.
1 2
10th
March
1899.
3 2
17th
March
1899.
4 3
24th
March
1899.
6 5
31st
March
1899.
1 2
7th
April
1899.
1
14th
April
1899.
5
21 st
April
1899.
8 9
28th
April
1899.
6 5
5th
May
1899.
8 4
12th
May
1899.
4 5
19th
May
1899.
2 2
26th
May
1899.
2 1
* Evacuated 21st February 1899. † Three villages newly infected : 2 adjoining Ánand. ‡ Due to people
returning to dig up the floors of their hontes which had been opened up ; this was stopped. § Re-occu-
pation of town begun. || " Nearly half of the town has been re-occupied." ** Re-occupation stopped.
** Date of last case—22nd May 1899.
The above notes furnish reasons for the prolonged series of sporadic cases in Anand
Town.
The following statement shows the places which suffered most severely in the Anand
Táluka :—
Town or Village.
Umreth
Ode
Sureli
Bhalej
Bhatpura
Ánand
Navli
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Popula-
tion.
15,698
9,385
2,330
4,002
1,010
9,214
3,520
Dato of first case.
26- 9-98
21-11-98
22-11-98
10-12-98
13-12-98
10- 2-99
...
...
...
...
...
Not known, about
end of February
1899.
Date of last case.
7-1-99 ..
9-1-99 ...
14-1-99 ...
12-1-99 ...
14-1-99 ...
22-5-99 ...
About 10-4-99
...
...
...
...
Total
number of
cases.
113
57
59
48
30
59
51
Total
n umber of
deaths.
94
46
53
40
26
44
38
Thásra Táluka.
The Thásra Táluka suffered more severely than the Anand Táluka, although a smaller
number of places were infected—31 against 39, Of the places
attacked, by far the most important was the town of Dakor, a
Municipal town with a population of 9,487, but which attracts thousands of pilgrims from
all parts of India (chiefly on every full-moon clay), where great precautions were exercised
and over which a careful watch was kept, owing to the suspicion of its immunity which had
arisen in August 1898. It was not, however, till the 25th January 1899 that indigenous
cases were found, the origin of infection being unknown. During the weeks ending 3rd
February 1899 and 10th February 1899, Dakor reported 5 cases—2 deaths and 8 cases—6
deaths respectively. From this latter date evacuation of the infected streets was energeti-