KOLABA DISTRICT.]
303
The above figures for Revdanda and Cheul are not large, considering the population ;
plague may, therefore, be said to have been kept well within bound here : and Mr. C. G.
Dodgson, I. C. S., who relieved Mr. Brooke towards the end of January 1898 for a short
time, writes, after visiting the villages of Revdanda, Cheul, and Nagaon :—
"These villages cover a large area, the houses mostly standing well apart from each other
in gardens and palm-groves. Wherever a case of plague has occurred, all the neighbouring
houses have been evacuated and are now being disinfected."
While, on the one hand, it is not improbable that this partial evacuation tended to protract
the epidemic, a reason for it may, on the other hand, be sought in the fact that the houses
were situated under shady palm-groves, which may, as Mr. H. O. Quin, I. C. S.—who had by
this time taken charge of the Collectorate from Mr. Dodgson—surmises, have afforded a
congenial soil for the location of the plague-germ.
Nagaon.
Population—3,986.
The Nagaon epidemic also began with one case in the week ending 21st January 1898;
five cases were registered in the nest week, to be followed by
eight more after an interval of a fortnight. A plague hospital
was erected, the village being rapidly evacuated. To these latter
measure perhaps must be ascribed the speedy control of the epidemic. In the first two weeks
of March, 7 cases were registered, and in the third week the maximum number attained during
the epidemic—14 cases, 9 deaths—was recorded. In two weeks more the outbreak was at . an
end—long before it subsided at Revdanda and Cheul. This is the more remarkable, because
Nagaon is situated close to these villages, and only lengthens the chain of villages forming
that group.
Akshi.
Population—1,465.
Akshi was attacked for the second time in March and April 1898. This village, again, is
contiguous to the Revdanda, Cheul and Nagaon group, and it is
not, therefore, surprising that the plague, though it did not last
here as long as did at either Revdanda or Cheul, owing
probably to more thorough evacuation, was yet almost as bad as at those places. The
Collector, therefore, redoubled his efforts to free the entire group. Mr. Brooke, who, since the
arrival of Mr. Quin, was employed almost exclusively on the supervision of plague measures,
the District Deputy Collector, Mr. Guider, and the Plague Mámlatdár, concentrated their
efforts : and Mr. Quin himself constantly visited the infected places, inspected and controlled
arrangements of his subordinates, and encouraged evacuation as much as possible.
Alibág.
Population—5,745.
After having been free for a period of nine months, the town of Alibág was, as already
mentioned, attacked also for the second time in March 1898,
when Mr. S. R. Arthur, I. C. S., succeeded Mr. Quin as
Collector. But the outbreak was immediately controlled, the
disease having been recognized from the very first, for Mr. Arthur reports :—
"Alibág is newly infected this week. The outbreak was preceded by a mortality among
rats; and steps were taken to empty the houses where such mortality was noticed. The first
indigenous case occurred in Koliwáda on the 14th instant, when my predecessor ordered the
immediate evacuation of the whole quarter and also impressed on the townspeople, generally,
the advisablity of vacating houses affected by plague last year and camping out in open fields.
Large numbers have done this of their own accord, and nearly half the population now live in
sheds outside the town."
From March to June 1898 there were in all 29 cases, all of which unfortunately
proved fatal.
.
Plague had now been established in the Kolába District since November 1896. From
that month up to the 10th June 1898, no week had passed without its tale of plague