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a tank within the fort, 5 paces by 6 and 5 or 6 feet deep, covered. The ground close to the
edge where the men stand to draw water, is uneven, and retains a puddle of dirty black
slime. A stick introduced showed about 5 or 6 inches of soft mud at the bottom of the tank.
Color of the water dirty, swarming with frogs and infusoria. It is supplied by a shallow,
winding irrigation-channel, one foot wide, coming from the Gomul river, traversing about three
miles of irrigated land before it reaches the post. It is choked with sedgy vegetation, and I
found several inches of black slime at the bottom of the channel close to the fort. with a green
scum on the surface in some places.
21. This post was not occupied in 1878. Last year, twenty-two horses were taken ill with
surra here, and all died. This year forty-seven were taken ill belonging to the 4th Punjab
Cavalry. I do not know how many of them have died. I saw eleven troopers and two ponies
suffering from surra at Dera Ismail Khan which had marched in with the disease from this post.
22. Major Underwood informed me that in May 1879 the 3rd Punjab Cavalry sent fifty-two
sabres and about twenty-five ponies from Edwardesabad to Jutta post, where they remained about
two months. Nearly every one of those animals died of surra during the following cold season at
Edwardesabad, and no horse there got this disease which had not been at Jutta. This fact is
interesting, not only as showing how prone this station is to the disease, but also that it is not
communicable by any ordinary means ; for if it were infectious in the ordinary acceptation of
the term, seventy-seven cases of it imported to a station would have caused it to spread. Major
Underwood further informed me that the 5th Punjab Cavalry had 150 sabres on the Dera Ismail
Khan frontier from 24th January to end of April 1879, and Done of their horses died of surra
when they returned to Kohat. No horse of that regiment was stationed at Jutta. This confirms
the common observation of natives and Europeans in this district that the disease is much more
common in the later than in the early months of the year.
23. Manghi Post, 14th October 1880.—Thirty-five sabres, 1st Punjab Cavalry present
Covered standings for forty-three horses. The fore is much too confined and crowded. Floor of
stables uneven, and the soil of some of the stalls soaked with urine about 6 inches deep Grass
good. No gram given to the horses, but barley, because the latter costs less per pound and
therefore supposed to be cheaper. The barley was better than the average I have seen in India
being plumper and less husky, but no native hand-mill would crush it, and as a consequence
the greater part of it passed through the bowels whole with the dung. On this principle of
estimating cheapness of food, sand and small gravel would probably be the cheapest that could
be got and certainly not less nutritious than the barley which cannot be digested. The water is
obtained from a tank within the fort, 4 paces by 4, nearly 6 feet deep, supplied by an irrigation
channel like that at Jutta. There is a low wall round three sides of the tank, and a cover to it
I inspected it at 6 A.M., just after the sweeper had been round. There was a gentle breeze
blowing, and I found a quantity of stable litter strewn upon the surface of the water. The
water swarmed with frogs and infusoria.
Fourteen horses were reported sick of surra at this post in 1878, twelve in 1879 and the
twenty-six died This year thirty-six were reported ill with the disease by the 4th Punjab
Cavalry. I do not know how many of them have died.
24. Luni Post, 14th October 1880.—Occupied by the Frontier Militia: thirteen sabres
Standings in the open, in good order. Grass good, gram good, barley bad, hard, shrivelled with
green mould. The water is now obtained from a shallow well dug in the bed of the river a
branch of the Luni. which runs near the fort only when there is rain on the hills. The well is
about 4 feet deep, and there is about a foot of water in it. The water looks muddy, but the solid
particles precipitate when the water stands in ghurras. The water thus obtained through sand
ought to be good ; it is renewed in the well as fast as it is drawn. This well supplies men and
horses ; it was made twelve days ago. Last year it was not made before November. Before
the well is made each year the water is obtained from stagnant ponds, which remain upon the
surface of the bed of the river, or else from a " bund " or dam made to retain water on the
ground for purposes of cultivation. The water is kept stagnant in the " bund " for 20 to
25 days. There is a pond not far from the well (a little lower down) from which the water was
obtained before the well was made; the water of that pond is now all green, and exceedingly
impure.
25. Eight horses were taken ill with surra here last year, and they all died early in
November. Owing to the want of rain last year and the great scarcity of grass, the horses were
fed on chopped straw through the season before, during, and after the outbreak ; they had no
grass of any kind I am assured, so that grass was in no way the bringer of the virus. My
opinion is, that the cause of the disease was in the stagnant water which the horses had to drink
before the well was made ; this was not made until after the horses died. The natives tell me
that they continue to use the stagnant ponds of rain water as long as they can, because it cooks
their food better, and they think all the water coming from heaven must be pure ; they do not
know that the purer and softer the water is the sooner it becomes unfit to drink by remaining
stagnant, exposed to the hot sun, and receiving organic matters blown by the wind &c.
There were no cases of surra here in 1878, nor any this year yet. The zamindars have never
heard of surra affecting horned cattle.