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inspection oí all passengers arriving at the ports and their detention at observation camps
for a period of 8 days. Returns of daily arrivals were called for in order that the influx
might be carefully watched. The ports at which such observation camps were established
were notified and landing at other ports where such arrangements could not be made was
prohibited."
7. In Sind, camps of observation were established at numerous places in the
Karachi, Hyderabad, and Shikárpur Districts. The remarks of Surgeon-Captain
Milne regarding the measures at Shikárpur, a large city imminently exposed to
the risk of infection from Sukkur, where plague was raging and the inhabitants
whereof were flying in all directions and carrying infection to other places, are
quoted below :—
" The medical inspection of travellers by road or rail having proved to be a very delusive
means of protection to the town, at the request of the inhabitants of Shikárpur the District
Magistrate approved.of quarantine being imposed against three infected areas in Sind, viz.,
Karáchi, Hyderabad and Sukkur.
The quarantine was by rail only. The ingenuity of the native traveller, however, was
not greatly taxed in finding means to evade this quarantine.
He either bought a ticket for the station nearest Shikárpur and then marched in by road,
or he adopted the simpler plan of taking a ticket for an intermediate and unaffected place
and re-booking to Shikárpur. This being represented to the District Magistrate, he was
pleased to approve of quarantine being imposed against all Sind. A series of rules
defining quarantine were drawn up and published in the Sind Gazette.
The rules described what persons were to be allowed free entry to Shikárpur, the
persons to whom passes were to be issued, and the period for which quarantine would last.
The object of quarantine was obvious, viz., the detention of all persons , under the observation
of a medical officer for a period ranging from 5 to 10 days. If during the period fixed
upon no symptoms of plague developed, he was allowed to enter the city. In carrying out
the quarantine the following measures were adopted.
All passengers by rail, whether from the north or south, were on their arrival at Shikar-
pur taken to the camp of observation.
The camp of observation consisted of about 100 huts. These huts were arranged in
ten rows of from 8 to 10 huts each.
All persons arriving on the same date were put into the same row of huts.
In front of each hut was placed a ticket with the names and numbers of the persons in
it, the place from whence they came, and the date of arrival. The camp being arranged in
this methodical manner, no confusion or disorder ever resulted, and it could be seen at a
glance how long each person had been in quarantine and how long he still had to stay. The
detention of travellers by rail was a comparatively easy matter—the detention of travellers
by road the most difficult, : at each road leading into Shikárpur just at the quarantine
boundary, and at many intervening spaces, a quarantine post was established.
This consisted of 3 policemen and 2 munshis, and it was their duty to turn back all
persons approaching Shikárpur unless provided with a pass signed by a responsible officer.
Should the person wish to proceed to Shikárpur, he was conducted by a policeman to
the camp of observation and then detained for 10 days. All the approaches to the city
being thus carefully guarded, it was a matter of great difficulty for any one to pass into
Sbikarpur without detection. A great help to this was the good will of the people. Should
a person by any chance have been able to pass the quarantine boundaries and enter the
city, it was almost a matter of certainty that his arrival was reported at a very early date
to the responsible officers. As the family with which he had been living was looked
upon in the light of presumably affected persons, all were removed for the usual period
to the camp of observation. A few cases of this kind had a most wonderfully deterrent effect
upon travellers.
It was found of course that the police and munshis occasionally tried to blackmail
travellers ; but the summary dismissal of a munshi and the punishment by fine of a police-
man had a very chastening effect upon them. The comfort of the person in the camp
of observation and to see that they were in no way tyrannized or blackmailed by the subor-
dinates in charge were matters of great solicitude to the medical officer. Each hut was
15 feet long by 10 feet broad. The walls were made of reeds coated with a thick layer of
mud, and each hut was provided with a verandah and an enclosed space for women if
required.
For ladies and gentlemen of the better class, a house made of sun-dried bricks was
provided.