171
PANCH MAHALS.
Area...
Population in 1891...
Density of population
Rainfall
1,606 sq. miles.
313,417.
19515 per sq. mile.
About 37 inches.
Boundaries.
The live sub-divisions of the Panoli Mahals, lying in the extreme east of Gujarat, form
two groups separated by a hilly and forest-clad strip of the Báriya
State, varying in breadth from about 9 miles in the north to 30 in the
south. The western group, the larger of the two, comprises the sub-divisions of Godhra in
the north, and Káloe, including the petty division of Hâlol, in the south. Its boundaries are
roughly as follows :—Kaira District on the north-west ; Ltmáwára and Sunth States on the
north ; Báriya on the east ; and Baroda on the south and west. The eastern group is
composed of the Dáhod sub-division, with, in the north, the petty division of Jhálod.
Báriya lies on the south-west and west, Lunáwára and Sunth on the north-west, the
Meywár State of Kushalgad on the north and north-east, and the Málwa State of Jambua on
the cast and south-east.
Climate and natural
features
In healthiness the climate varies greatly. Godhra, surrounded by large areas of forest
and waste, though for residents fairly healthy, is rather a trying
climate for strangers. The hot and rainy seasons weaken Europeans,
and the cutting malarious winds and hot sun of the cold months are, to natives from other
Districts, apt to bring on fevers of a dangerous type.
Within the limits of the District are great varieties of soil. In the north-wesè of Godhra,
near the Máhi, is some alluvial land, south of this a beet of dull black, such as is found in
Thásra, and beyond that a very large tract of light land. The District is well supplied with
water from ponds and streams. The west is well supplied with ponds and reservoirs, oí
which five in Godhra and one in Kálol are unusually large.
Previous epidemics.
There is no authentic record of plague in the Panch Mahals
previous to 1896.*
Protective measures in
the Panch Mahals District.
December 1896.
Among the many phenomena enveloping the appearance and disappearance of plague in
this Presidency during the past three years, one of the most re-
markable is the complete immunity of the Panch Mahals District up
to the end of 1898. Baroda Territory, which bounds it on the
south and south-west, had suffered severely—the Kaira District, which bounds it on the
west and north-west, had reported a largo number of imported cases—and the Rewa Kántha
Agency, which is intermingled with the Collectorate, had fallen—long before a single case of
plague, either imported or indigenous, was reported from the Panch Mahals.
The precautionary measures enforced were the prevention, detention and observation
of all arrivals from infected parts ; and the patrolling of the Baroda frontier (extending for
some 70 miles) by Police, under the supervision of the Mámlatdár of Kálol. Doubtless these
measures, energetically carried out as they were, were not without their effect. Doubtless,
also, the famous Anand Detention Camp and Cordon did much to protect this District. But
in the people's keen appreciation of the exigencies of the position, and in their loyal and
hearty co-operation in enforcing the above precautions, must perhaps be sought the chief
* Bombay Gazettr, Vol. III.