8
cases with the infection, as it was in the instance of Mora, which was very
clearly marked. Indeed, it is not possible in all places to ascertain which were
actually the first indigenous cases. In Alíbág, for instance, there is reason to
believe that more than one death really due to plague occurred before the cause
of mortality was openly recognised and reported as such. The locality in which
the indigenous outbreak commenced was the neighbourhood of the Augre's and
Biwalkar's "Wadas, and the owners of these are leading citizens whose servants
were in communication with Bombay. In Janjira the first indigenous casos
occurred in the precincts of the Mawalis palace, about a mile from the town, and
the contact of the victim with the infection is unknown, but mortality had been
observed previous to his seizure among rats, in the palace buildings. Whether
rats can communicate infection or not is a question for medical experts, but
it can safely be affirmed that in this district, in all the places where the disease
has eventually established itself, the first cases were imported, not indigenous.
In two indigenous cases however, which suddenly occurred at Neral in Karjat
without any visible importation of the disease, the infection was not directly
traced to Bombay : but Neral is on the line of rail from Bombay to Poona, and
the means of communication therefore was present. Revdanda was reported
in the official returns as the scene of an outbreak, but though plague has
visited this place and Cheul, the outbreak occurred in reality in the hamlet of
Theroncla, which lies along the coast a little to the north of Revdanda. It is
believed that the disease was introduced by the crew of a native craft which had
gone to Bombay, and who returned and died. Into Revdanda the plague was
introduced by an old woman of the Koli caste coming affected with the disease
from Theronda into the house of a relative where she died. The true cause
of her death was at first concealed, and it was ascertained subsequently by the
police when dead rats had appeared in the house. The town of Pen, which
was exposed to infection from Pauvel and Alíbág as well as Bombay, un-
accountably escaped with one indigenous case, that of a relative in the house
where a plague patient from Bombay died. This was late in May, and prompt
action was taken by the local Hospital Assistant for the disinfection of the
house and removal of the inmates and neighbours. But a few imported cases
had occurred at Pen at an earlier date. With one exception, there has not been
a single indigenous case in the tálukas of Mahad, Mángaon and Roha, though
ten imported cases occurred, and there were practically no attempts in the
villages at either segregation or disinfection. The exception is somewhat a
curious instance which occurred at the village of Vadávli in the Mdngaon
Táluka. A man suffering from plague was treated by the villagers with the
rough native method of wet-cupping, in the belief that removal of blood from
the bubo would effect a cure. The cupping process involves the application of
the mouth to the instrument for the creation of vacuum. The native who
operated took the disease and died. As a general inference, therefore, towns
appear to be more favourable to the propagation of the disease than villages and
the coast villages, with their cocoanut groves and swampy ground than the
higher and more open inland villages.
6. So early as 15th October 1896, when the plague in Bombay had acquired
proportions which suggested danger to the surrounding country, my predecessor,
Mr. Maconachie, issued an order under Section 144, Criminal Procedure Code,
prohibiting the landing of all persons at any port in the district. This order
was found (Government Resolution No. 5176, General Department, dated 25th
November 1896) on a reference to the Remembrancer of Legal Affairs, to be
illegal. Messrs. Shepherd and Company seern to have tried (Government Resolution
No. 5601, General Department, dated 26th December 1896), to prevent passengers
with the plague on them from travelling by their boats, but the arrangements
made with this object were of very little use. Medical examination at the
Carnac Bunder was not enforced until later when the plague had become epide-
mic in Panvel and Uran. All that could be done under these circumstances
was to stimulate the municipalities to greater efforts in sanitation. This was
done both by my predecessor Mr. Maconachie as regards Alíbág, and by my
Assistant Mr. Brooke as regards the municipalities in his charge. Soon after the
commencement of the outbreak at Uran an order under Section 45 (1) of Act IV of
1890 was issued by me as District Magistrate, the full text of which was reported