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This was over 100 yards apart from the rest of the camps. For another class of
Native gentlemen who could provide houses for themselves in isolated places, a good deal
of liberty was given in the choice of such places, and it may be said that in no case
did they abuse the liberty given them. As it would have been a matter of great hard-
ship to a poor person to be shut up in a camp for 10 days without providing him with
means to earn his livelihood, a subsistence allowance of 3 annas a day was given to
all. A Bania's shop was provided for them, a large staff of sweepers and bhisties was
engaged, and every means taken to soften the asperities of the situation. Permission was
also given to their friends and relatives to see them during the afternoon, but they
were carefully kept apart by a ditch 3 feet wide and 5 feet deep. That a certain
amount of blackmailing occurred in the camp at one time was known to the medical
officer, but until a European subordinate was engaged to take over the charge of the
camp he was powerless to prevent it.
The success which followed the imposition of quarantine at Shikárpur has been
a matter of surprise to all under whose observation it has come. When it is remem-
bered that the plague was raging in a very bad form at Sukkur, only 20 miles distant,
and all the neighbouring villages had been tainted by the same dreaded disease, it is
very difficult to explain how Shikárpur enjoyed such an enviable immunity. That
quarantine had a very great deal to do with it cannot be denied ; but whether it was
the direct or indirect effect which induced this is more difficult to say. There is no
doubt it got well noised all over Sind that Shikárpur was very difficult to get
into, and that even when any person did get in, it was no protection to them as they
were liable at any time to be taken off at once to the camps of observation and
kept there for 10 days. Thus the indirect action of quarantine contributed power-
fully towards this immunity. But even quarantine would have been useless had it not
been supported by the good will and co-operation of the people of Shikárpur themselves.
The reports of the devastation caused by the plague in Karachi and Sukkur had in-
stilled a very wholesome fear in their hearts. They were ready to submit to many privations
and to the curtailment of their liberty, provided it seemed to them to be for the common
good. They were not unnaturally very jealous of any liberty being given to outsiders to
enter and leave Shikárpur and not given to themselves.
It fell rather more heavily on some people than on others, notably on the Bhang and
opium contractors. To these, however, and to the contractors 011 Public Works, such as
canals, a considerable amount of freedom of movement was given latterly, as they would
otherwise have suffered very severely. It is very interesting to note the exact figures
relative to the number of plague cases that got into Shikárpur before and after the
imposition of quarantine.
From the 1st to the 31st of March, in all 22 cases of plague occurred in Shikárpur.
Quarantine was imposed on the 1st of April, and from that date to 30th April, when the last
case of plague occurred, only 6 cases were discovered. Of these 6 cases, 2 had entered
Shikárpur before quarantine was imposed, 2 cases were caught at the quarantine stations
on trying to enter the city, and the last 2 cases were local. Thus it may be said that
quarantine was in every way successful, as no case of plague entered Shikárpur after its
imposition.
SECTION 3.
Other measures in the Mofussil,
The general nature of the measures taken in the mofussil for the suppression
and prevention of the spread of plague in the hot season of 1897, apart from
the arrangement for railway and sea traffic inspection, camps of observation, and
encouragement to villagers to prevent strangers entering their village sites, is in-
dicated in the rules quoted in Section 1 of Chapter III, Part I, by which Govern-
ment conferred powers in their officers to take the action which they were advised
was necessary. The power to prohibit pilgrimages and fairs was freely used by
District Magistrates, and in the cases of the Thána and Poona districts Govern-
ment by a special order prohibited all such gatherings of people. The powers to
stop intercommunication between villages was found to be useful in cases in
which two neighbouring villages, one only of which was infected, were separated
by a creek or river, such as Kelva and Máhim, and Chinchni and Tárápur in the
Thána District. The compulsory evacuation of infected villages was enforced
with success in many villages, but specially in Sind, where it was an essential
feature of the system adopted ; and in that province also the experiment of