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The people of the Dacca District are as a rule well-to-do, and have as much
to eat as they wish. The cultivation of jute has raised them in this respect above
many of their fellows in other districts.
Fish is abundant all over the district, but especially in the low-lying parts of it.
There is probably less fish in Kapasia in the dry season than in the other thannahs,
but it is everywhere and almost daily article of diet They do not eat stale or
putrifyiug fish, though they eat kinds not generally eaten by Europeans on account
of their bones.
Dal is freely eaten ; all kinds except arhar and bhoot are found in every bazaar.
Potatoes are used largely in the town of Dacca, and are grown extensively in
Keranigunge (Lalbagh), but have not yet come into use in the district generally.
The usual Native tarkaries are eaten throughout the district. In Kapasia, as
already mentione-1, the people seem, to devour also various jungle roots ; but with this
exception the food of the people of this district is not different from that of any
other part of Bengal Proper.
Conclusions.—It may perhaps be perceived that my report is arranged in
different heads :
1. Prevalence.—7·977 males and 1·361 females, or 4·595 in every 10,000 of
the population are affected with leprosy in this district. The disproportion between
males and females is probably due to a certain extent to non-registration of female
sufferers, but it is believed to be to a considerable degree natural. It varies in
different thannahs from 0·208 in Harirampur to 7·248 in Kapasia.
2. Topography.—It is most prevalent in the high latérite parts of the district
and in the low water-logged thannahs where there is little or no natural drainage,
where the soil dries by evaporation ; and those districts return the smallest number of
lepers, which are alluvial and of medium elevation, with a comparatively free natural
drainage.
3. Relation to malaria.—A certain rough relationship seems to exist between
the two forms of disease (see Table II). But there are as many exceptions to the
rule as tbannahs following it. Thus the low water-logged Srinagar, which is third
in the list for leprosy, strangely enough has had fewest deaths from malarial diseases
during the first five years; while Kapasia, the most leprous thannah, has, notwith-
standing the opinion of the District Superintendent of Police and his department,
a comparatively low death-rate from fevers.
4. The general physique of the people is for Bengalis fairly good.
5. As to their food, I do not think that any legitimate conclusion can be
drawn from the facts before me on this point. It is sufficiently good and varied.
6. I do not place any reliance on the figures supplied by the census returns
as regards the actual number of lepers in the district. The people habitually
confound leucoderma with leprosy on the one hand, and many cases of constitu-
tional syphilis are considered as cases of leprosy by the laity. But these errors
were probably equally made in all the districts, and do not affect materially a
comparative return like the present. The actual number of lepers who registered
themselves as such in the sadr station is only 19. I am sure I do not exaggerate
when I say that I see as many as 8 or 10 lepers every Sunday morning between
my house and the Mitford Hospital, and I am inclined to believe that there is
more leprosy in this district than the census returns show.
Finally, I regret that much of the information regarding the district which I
have felt called upon to give in writing this report I have not derived from actual
personal observation, as my short stay in Dacca has not yet given me an opportu-
nity of visiting any but some of the nearer parts of the district. The Magistrate
of Dacca, who knows the country very thoroughly, was good enough to answer a
number of questions I sent to him regarding the topography and habits of the
people of the district, and the District Superintendent of Police also gave me the
interesting comparative information regarding Kapasia and Bancoorah.
DACCA;
A. CROMBIE, M. D.,
The 24th August 1877.
Offg. Civil Surgeon of Dacca.
No. 1199, dated Shillong, the 2nd November 1877.
Endorsed by the Officiating Deputy Surgeon General, Dacca Circle.
FORWARDED to the Secretary, Surgeon General, Indian Medical Department.