Report on the Plague, in Cutch from the 1st October 1896 to the 15th
August 1897.
Description.
Cutch, or the sea-coasb laud lying between the Peninsula of Káthiáwár on
the south and the Province of Sind on the north, ex-
tends from 20°47' to 24° North Latitude, and 68°26' to
70 10 East Longitude. Exclusively of the Ran it contains an estimated area
of 6,500 square miles, a population (in 1891) of 558,415 souls, and yields a
yearly revenue of about Rs. 30,00,000.
Cutch, 160 miles from east to west and from 35 to 75 from north to south,
is almost entirely cut off from the Continent of India.
It is for the most part sandy and treeless, and on the south and west prin-
cipally is fringed with mangrove swamps. On the north and east is the Ran,
.a salt desert supposed to cover 9,000 square miles.
Population.
Of the entire population there are 351,620 Hindus
and 133,492 Mahomedans.
Climate.
The climate of Cutch, as compared with other parts of the Bombay Presi-
dency, is mild and agreeable. The months of April
and May are very hot inland, while along the coast the
climate is delightful, both from the absence of the burning wind and dust storms
that prevail elsewhere during those months. In June the hot winds generally
cease, the atmosphere becomes cloudy, and occasionally the rains, which com-
mence very irregularly, are preceded by excessive sultriness.
The plague of 1812 and
1815.
Towards the close of the year 1812, ditch was visited by an outbreak of
pestilence or such virulence, that it is said to have
destroyed half the people of the country. In the year
1815, the year of the heaviest known rainfall, it again
broke out in great virulence at Kunthkote in East Cutch or Wágad. (The
symptoms at that time were the same as those which have manifested themselves
during the present outbreak in this province, and very few recovered.) Most
died between the 3rd. and 9th day, as is the case in most cases now. The plague
apparently was in the air, for there was nothing to show that it was brought
from outside or was spread by the touch. It appeared to attack most fiercely
the sluggish and vegetable-eaters. Rajputs escaped, while Brahmins and Vánias
died in numbers. From Kunthkote the disease spread to other parts of Wágad,
causing much loss of life in the early months of 1816. In May, it crossed to
Morvi, and came back in August within 10 miles of Bhúj, and at the same time
it raged in Rádhanpur and Sind, Since 1817 there has been no return of the
pestilence.
"Noticeable features of
the present plague.
In the present plague, the Mahomedans of the village of Salaya, a, suburb of
Mándvi, suffered equally with the Hindus, but I think
that this was due in Salaya to the very dark dwellings
in which the people lived and to their utter carelessness
as to whether they got the disease or not. In Mánclvi itself, as the hospital
returns will show, the Mahomedans, such as Borahs, Khojas, and meat-eaters
generally, did not suffer so much as the Hindus, nor was the death-rate so high
amongst those attacked as the Hindus. Of course their numbers are not so
large, but taking the percentage the Hindus suffered the most.
Another noticeable fact, as far as my experience goes, is that Bráhmins,
high officials, and rich merchants have had more or less immunity from the
disease, probably owing to their living in better houses and having better food.
The virulent fever of 1878.
In 1878, after a bad epidemic of cholera succeeding the heaviest rainfall
since 1815, the province was visited in August of that
year by a virulent type of fever which attacked everv
village and hamlet m the province, and in Bhúj, the capital, persons died at the
rate of 40 a day.
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