141
charge ; provisions were supplied and free rations given to those who could
not afford to pay for their own food. No plague cases were detected at the
camps, but the Collector reports that the arrangements made had an immediate
effect in diminishing the number of travellers.
2. Similar arrangements were made by the Collector of Ahmednagar. On
the 12th February the Collector telegraphed to Government that the number of
arrivals from. Poona was increasing and asked for sanction (which was accorded)
to the expenditure of Us. 3,000 for the 'construction of a quarantine camp in
case one became necessary later on. On the 9th of March, 2 cases of plague,
both of which had come 'from Poona, were discovered at Bhingár, which is
close to Ahmednagar. As it had become known that rigorous measures with
the aid of the military were to be taken in Poona for the suppression of the
plague, it was recognised that the influx of fugitives from, that city was
certain to largely increase in the course of a few days. On the 10th March
the Collector issued a proclamation imposing quarantine from the morning of
the following day and placing the arrangements in charge of his Personal Assist-
ant, who was assisted by the Civil Surgeon and a Hospital Assistant. Special
rales were made for the exemption of persons who could be trusted to present
themselves for medical examination, and the Collector's Personal Assistant was
given discretionary power to exempt any person from detention. The daily
number of inmates of the camp varied from 50 to 170. A marked increase of
arrivals from Poona was at first observed, but when the quarantine arrange-
ments became widely known the numbers largely decreased. In his plague
report the Collector remarks as follows : —
" I venture to think that the camp has served its purpose well. It is true that out of
the numerous arrivals from Bombay, Poona, and other infected places who were detained
therein, only 2 were attacked with the plague. But it is not unlikely that the detention of
travellers in a healthy camp, where sanitary dwellings were provided, checked in some
instances the development of the disease. It is at any rate certain that no plague cases
have occurred in Ahmednagar amongst persons arriving after quarantine was put in force,
whereas imported cases were, on the other hand, becoming numerous before quarantine was
adopted. This seems to have been worth securing."
3. The important hill station of Mahábleshwar, which is the seat of Govern-
nient in the hot weather months, was at the beginning of March exposed to the
risk of infection in consequence of an unusual rush of Native fugitives from Poona,
many of whom were known to have come from highly infected parts of the city.
The Superintendent of the station, Surgeon-Major C. Monks, in anticipation of
sanction imposed quarantine—a measure which he describes as having had the
result of checking this rush in the most marked manner. The three roads and
the hill paths were guarded and a plague hospital and camp of observation
were established in addition to medical inspection posts. The arrangements
were at first of a rigorous nature, but were speedily modified with a view to
substituting for detention, in as many cases as possible, a system under which
persons were required to attend daily at the Civil Hospital for medical inspec-
tion for eight days after their arrival on the bill. Another camp of observation
was established at Dandeghar on the ghat road leading to Panchgani, a smaller
hill station in the neighbourhood, for the protection of both Panuhgani and
Mahábleshwar. Surgeon-Major Monks in his report on the subject remarks as
follows :—
" Although only one case of plague was intercepted, I consider that the measures taken
were of great use. The woman who succumbed to the malady was going to an overcrowded
house in the middle of the bazar, where à centre of infection spreading into an epidemic
might have been established ; but the chief advantage consisted of the effect which the
announcement of quarantine at Mahábleshwar had on the plague-stricken population of
Poona, who had begun to flock to the hill, but who ceased to do so as soon as they learned
that seven days would have to be passed in a camp of observation before the station could
be reached."
4. Camps of observation were also established at the city of Sátára, in the
district of Bijápur, and in the Kolhápur State. The arrangements in the latter
were of a very complete nature. The following are extracts from a letter from
B 1135—36--