Star.
London, England, 1831-04-07 00:00:00

PROGRESS OF THE INDIAN CHOLERA.

Indian or Spasmodic Cholera, which gives a name to, and
forme the immediate object of this paper, is a plague of
.reilern origin. This disease is in its principal symptom!
~'together unlike the English Cholera, yet many persons,
oht acquainted with the nature of both species, have con-
fuentled them. In Hindostan, Spasmodic Cholera has pro-
table always existed as a comparatively mild climatic dia-
. ase. affecting at certain seasons of the year a small number
of individuals in various parts of the country This opinion
is countenanced by Hindoo authority. Bat there is no evi-
dence to shew that it ever bore the epidemic character until
the year 1817. unless we admit the statements of Mr. Scott,
who considered the cases that occurred towards the close of
the last century sufficiently numerous, and the sweep of
country travelled by the malady sufficiently large, to warrant
the conclusion. However this question may be disposed of,
it is at least certain that the Indian Cholera was not entitled
to be classed with pestilential scourges of the worst descrip-
tion, previous to the beginning of August, 1817, when it
suddenly broke out with unprecedented malignity.
temmencing among the inhabitants of Jessore, a town
1(10 miles N. E. of Calcutta, in less than a month it travelled
along the course of the river to that city, having desolated
the intervening villages. Before the expiration of August,
the native population of Calcutta were attacked, and early in
September the disease was also manifested among the ,
Europeans.
From January to May, 1818, the pestilence raged with ;
extreme violence, extending its destructive influence across
Bengal, front Silbet to Cuttack ; and towards the interior,
from the mouth of the Ganges to its confluence with the
.1 umna, a space including 450 square unites.
Leaving Bengal, the disease retired for some time to the
western bank of the Ganges and Jumna. In its most ma-1
lignant form it appeared at Benares, where in two months
15,000 persons perished. At Allahabad forty or fifty died',
daily. To other localities situated on either bank the disease
soon spread, and the mortality was equally great. In the
district of Gorrakpore 30,000 were carried off in a month.',
Then suffered in succession Lucknow, Cawnpore, Delhi,
Agra, Muttra, Meerat and Bareilly.
Between the 6th and 7th of November, the epidemic bad
reached the grand army, which, on the approach of the Pin-1
darree war, had been concentrated at Jubbulpore, Mundel-
lah, and Sauger, under the command of the Marquis of
Hastings. It consisted of 10,000 troops, and 80,000 fol-
lowers. To the different divisions of this force, the cholera
roved more fatally effective than could the shot of the ene-
my in a well-contested field. In twelve days nearly 9,000
men had fallen to rise no more. At this time the thermo-
meter ranged from 90 to 100 deg. Fahrenheit. The heat
was moist and suffocating, and the atmosphere a dead calm.
The progress of the cholera in the centre division of the
army was as follows :—After creeping insidiously for a few
days among the lower classes of the camp followers, it seemed
instantaneously to gain fresh vigour, breaking out with ir-
resistible force in every direction. Previous to the 14th, it
had overspread the camp, sparing neither age nor sex in the
indiscriminating violence of its attack. The old and the
young, the European and the native, fighting men and camp
followers, were alike selected, and all equally sank within its
death-grasp. From the 14th to the 20th, the mortality had
become so extensive that the stoutest hearts were yielding to
despair. The camp wore the aspect of a general hospital.
The medical officers, night and day at their posts, were no
longer able to administer to the numerous sick who continued
to pour in from every quarter. At this time the scene was
strikingly contrasted to what it had been a few days before.
The noise and bustle almost inseparable from the presence of
a multitude of human beings, bad nearly subsided into still-
ness. Nothing was to be seen in motion, save a solitary in-
dividual, here and there anxiously hurrying from one divi-
sion of the camp to another to enquire after the fate cf his
companions. Nothing was to be heard but the groans ofl
the dying, or the wailing for the dead. The natives, per-
ceiving the only hope of safety in flight, now deserted in
crowds. But their speed frequently deceived them. The
fields and highways, for miles round, were covered with the
bodies of many who had carried with them the seeds of the
distemper.
It was evident that such a state of things could not con-
tinue much longer. Unless an immediate check were given
to the malady, it would soon depopulate the camp. In this
emergency, •it was fortunately determined by the com-
mander-in-chief that change of locality should be tried as a
last resource. The division accordingly moved in a south-
easterly direction. In a short period the Marquis of
Hastings was enabled to transmit a despatch to the go-
vernment, intimating that having marched fifty miles, be
had at last fixed upon a dry and elevated soil, where the
pestilence rapidly declined.
The cholera now directed its course across the Deccan,
advancing, in many instances, at the rate of fifteen or
eighteen miles a-day, and remaining at various posts during
a period of from two to six weeks. In this way it reached
Husseinabad, where the mortality was frightful for several
days. It then followed the banks of the Nerbuddah to
Tanali, and afterwards traversed Aurungabad, Ahmednug-
gur, and Poonah. Taking the direction of the coast, it
arrived at Bombay, August, 1818, having crossed the In-
dian Peninsula in twelve months from the date of its ap-
pearance in Calcutta.
We have thus been able to trace the footsteps of this de •
structive traveller through the country of its birth. Its mea-
sured rate of progression, and the occasional halts which it
made for definite periods in thickly inhabited towns, are
worthy of remark, as the epidemic still retains these cha-
racteristics. Like a nascent river, its course has been at
tames direct or devious, uniform or temporarily interrupted ;
appearing at various places, not at the same period, but in
succession, either by the gradual advance of the main cur-
rent, or of some of its distributive branches.
While the interior of Hindostan was submitting to this,
the pestilence had spread along the coast of Malabar and
Coromandel, reaching Madras the Bth of October. With its
progress here, a new and alarming feature was developed.
The possibility of transporting the contagion by sea was
evinced in its transit from Coromandel to the island of Cey-
lon. In Candi, the capital, it broke out December, 1818,
with even greater violence than upon the continent.
By the 15th of September, 1819, Mauritius was included
in the islands infected. The disease did not appear till
after the arrival of the Topaze frigate from Ceylon, where
the epidemic was then raging.
The vessel, at the time of sailing, seemed healthy, but
during the passage the cholera had appeared among the
crew. In Pout Louis fifty persons died daily. The malady,
however, was chiefly confined to the coast ; for though the
deiiths in the hospital of the town amounted to about
ninety-four cases out of one hundred and thirty-three, on
the plantations the mortality was not higher than 10 or 15
per cent.
In the adjacent island of Bourbon, the disease began
early in the month of December, 1819. The governor
had adopted measures to interdict all communication with
Mauritius ; but notwithstanding this, two boats from the dif-
ferent islands held clandestine intercourse, and the con-
tagion was imported. Of 257 persons seized with the dis-
temper, 178 died.
During the last six months of 1819, the cholera, pur-
suing its route to the south and east, had also invaded the
ludo-Chinese Peninsula. Siam received more than a pro-

portional share of misfortune. In Bankok alone 40,000
individuals are said to have fallen victims. The contagion
marched onwards to Malacca and Singapore. By the end
of April it was announced on the northern coast of Java.
During May it extended with violence in the interior of
this island.

Cochin-China and Tonquin were invaded in 1820. In
December of the same year, it entered China, beginning
its ravages at Canton. Pekin admitted the enemy in
1821, and during that and the following year the mortality
was P.O enormous, that coffins and other funeral requisites
were necessarily furnished at the expense of the public
treasury, for the interment of the poorer classes. Num-
bers of people engaged in the pursuits of business or plea-
sure, riding or walking, were seen to fall in the streets, ex-
hausted by the sudden impression of the disease, which
carried them in a few hours afterwards to eternity.
We shall now return to Bombay, and describe the course
which the epidemic took to the north and west, in its ap-
proaches from that island towards the confines of Europe ;
and the route by which at last it was enabled to traverse the
Russian empire, threatening, in the present day, the neigh-
bouring European states.
In July. 1821, through the intercourse maintained by
ships trading between Bombay and Muscat, in Arabia, the
contagion was exported to the latter. Here the disease
destroyed 60,000 persons ; many expired ten minutes after
the accession. The cholera now spread to different parts of
the Persian gulf—to Bahrein, Busheer, and Bassora. In
Bassora, 18,000 individuals perished, of whom 14,000 died
in a fortnight.
From the Persian gulf the cholera extended inland, in
two directions, following the line of commercial intercourse.
On one hand, it ascended the Euphrates, traversing Meso-
potamia into Syria; and the Tigris from Bassora to Bagdad.
lOn the other, the disease was propagated into Persia.—
]ln the city of Shiraz, the population of which is
, 40,000, there died 16,000 in the first few days. Among
the victims was the East India Company's resident, Claudius
James Rich, Esq. He had retired to rest but very
slightly indisposed. In the morning, he was found dead in
his bed.

Extending through Persia, the contagion visited several
districts in the north and south of the kingdom. Ispahan
escaped in consequence of the caravans from Shiraz being
prohibited from entering the city. The route that was sub
stituted lay through Yezd. This town paid dearly for the
vicarious visitation, as seven thousand persons were after-
wards swept away by the cholera. During the succeeding
winter, the contagion became dormant, both in Persia
and Syria.
In the spring of 1822 the Syrian and Persian streams of
contagion had their frozen energies restored to activity.
They quickly spread in their primitive vigour. Mosul, Beni,
Aentab, and Aleppo were infected. In Persia, during Sep-
tember, the disease spread to the northward of Teheran,
throughout all Kurdistan and Tauris.
In the spring and autumn of 123, Diarbekr and Antioch
were attacked, and the disease ravaged many of the towns
along the Asiatic side of the Mediterranean. It also extended
in an opposite course, attaining, in the month of August,
Baku, upon the border of the Caspian Sea. At length, in
September, it reached the Russian city of Astracan, at the
mouth of the Volga. It first broke out in the marine hos-
pital. From the 22d of September to the 9th of October,
there died 144 patients, nearly two thirds of all who bad
been attacked. Rigorous measures were enforced by tha
authorities for checking the contagion, but it continued to
manifest itself until the severity of winter had set in. During
the ensuing summer it did not return. The winter of this
year was also destructive of the Syrian branch before it could
reach Egypt. Sanatory precautions, however, in expecta-
tion of its arrival, had been prescribed by the Viceroy.
Although Europe was relieved from the impending dan-
ger, by the complete destruction or exhaustion of those parts
of the contagious currents which had penetrated to Astra-
can, and to the borders of Egypt, yet the cholera continued
to reappear, every summer, in many of the countries pre-
viously infected, spewing that the cold of winter had, in
general, power to check its morbid influence upon the hu-
man body, but not to destroy the miasm altogether.
In 1822 it re-appeared in Java, and carried off 100,000
people. After visiting 'fernat, Celebes, and Banda, in
1823, it first reached Amboyna. The inhabitants had no
recollection of the disease ever having been in the Spice
Islands before. Afterwards it committed great havoc in
Timor. For several years the cholera pursued its destruc-
tive course through China. After desolating several cities
in Mongolia, it had reached the frontiers of Siberia at the
end of the year 1826. In February, 1827, the disease for-
tunately received a check during the prevalence of a strong
north wind.

After the first invasion, Persia had several returns of
Cholera. In October, 1829, a very serious inroad com-
menced in Teheran, the royal .esidence. But the occur•
rence of winter stopped its progress for the time. The con-
tagion, however, was again resuscitated towards the middle
of June, 1830, in the provinces of Mazanderan and Shirvan,
upon the southern shore of the Caspian Sea. From the lat-
ter it passed through the town of Tauris, and de-
stroyed 5,000 of its inhabitants. Crossing the Rus-
sian frontier, it rapidly advanced towards the interior.
In two provinces 4,557 persons were seized with the
malady, of whom more than a third died. The Bth of
August it entered Tiflis. The population was soon di-
minished from 30,1)00 to 8,000, by deaths, and migra-
tion to avoid the distemper. To avert the spreading mor-
tality, the inhabitants had recourse to religious ceremonies
and processions, which, by collecting crowds, only served to
extend the disease.

In the mean time, by the Ist of July the malady had
reached Astracan. Ten days afterwards, 1229 individuals
had been seized, of whom more than a third died, including
the civil governor, and nearly all the officers of police.
This was the second time the devoted city of Astraean had
been visited by the contagion. It was decreed, however,

that the present attack should not yield so readily as the
former had done seven years before. The resietless pro-
gress which the malady has since made from this locality,
over a vast portion of Russia, has served to fix the attention
of professional men in every part of Europe, and to excite
rational alarm in the minds of the enlightened members of,
the general community.
The contagion, in penetrating to the heart of the Russian
empire from Astracan, pursued the course of the Volga, which
spread its navigable waters over the most populous provinces.
Considerable havoc was made among the Cossacks of the
Don. The capitals of the several districts between that and
Moscow were ravaged in succession. In this city the ap-
pearance of the destroyer was announced the 28th of Sep-
tember,
having travelled from Astracan, a distance of 900
miles, in less than three months.

In Moscow, energetic measures were instantly instituted
by the government to afford every assistance to the sick,
and to oppose the progress of the malady. The city was
divided into forty-seven departments, completely insulated
one from the other by barriers and guards. Restrictions
and precautions heretofore found serviceable in neutralizing
or excluding the contagion of Egyptian plague, were rigidly
enforced upon all ranks of the people. The 11th of October,
twelve days after the invasion, 216 cases of cholera had
occurred, and of these 76 were fatal. The mortality, how-
ever, exceeded even the preceding proportion with the ex-

tension of the disease. By the 10th of November, 5,507
cases were returned, and the deaths amounted to 2,908, or
more than a half.
By letters of a recent date (January, 1831) we learn that
latterly the malady bad greatly declined in Moscow, but that
it bad appeared to a limited extent among the troops march-
ing to the reduction of Poland. Report says that it was
carried thither by some regiments which the necessity of the
occasion had summoned from the provinces previously infected.
—Englishman's Magazine, No. 1.
PANORAMA OF THE BRITISH

EMPIRE.
KENT AND ESSEX MERCURY, APRIL 5.

---
Seven columns of this paper are occupied with the interesting contest
between Mr. Mayhew and the Corporation of Colchester, who, baffled
by Mr. Mayhew In their return of the Sing's Printer, have exerted the
last effort of such expiring bodies to thwart his election, but, to the
general satisfaction of the public, without success. It seems, on the
evidence of Messrs. Hope snd Mills, that Sir W. Curtis was obtruded
as a candidate, 'without his appearing, or personally pardeipating, but
after four days' poll, Mr, Mayhew was 97 a head. The defeat of this
well-entrenched Corporation will he the signal for independent
electors every where to exert themselves as those of Colchester
have done. A close corporation is always an incubus on the pros-
perity and freedom of a town, and one of the first ten acts of a re-
formed parliament should be to open theeir offices to popular election.
The inhabitants of Rochford Hundred, at a numerous meeting,
have sanctioned the plan of Reform. Mr. Smith, of Rawneth, Mr.
Mill, of Raylegh Park, Mr. Ralph, the Rev. J. Harris, and Messrs.
Wellesley and Harvey, M.P. spoke at considerable length.
HUNK BAY, Kzwv.—The Royal Assent has just been given to an
Act of Parliament, by which a company is formed for the erection of a
pier at Herne Bay, which is situate on the Kentish coast, four miles on
the London side of the Reculvers, and 10 nearer the metropolis than
Margate. The town of Herne Bay has been for sonic time past rapidly
advancing in public estimation as a select sea retreat, but the want of a
landing plate has prevented visitors reaching it by water.
The Royal Adelaide steam boat performed the voyage from Margate
to London, a distance of nearly 80 miles, in five hours and 17 minutes,
on Tuesday la: t, being the quickest passage ever made.
CIiELMSFOZD M .-Wheat, White, 72s to 80s; Red, ditto,
68s to 765; Barley, 34s to 46.; Oats, 27s to 345; Peas, Partridge,
351 to 38s ; White, 48s to 501; Beans, Tick, 34s to 38s.
Saturday last, seventeen persons, emigrants, left Hadleigh for liar-
, with, where a ship is waiting for their reception, ;bound to Upper
Canada. Same day, four labourers and two children left Layham,
nuar Hulleigh, for the same destination.
MARRIED.—A. Watson, Esq Lieutenant 58th regt. to Isabel,
(laughter of the late J. Forbes, of Hutton-hall, Essex.
DIED.—At Gravesend, Pante), relict of the late Mr. Wm. Tabrum,
Woodham Ferris,—At Great Tey, Mr. Joseph Firmin, 64.—At Col-
chester, Miss Maria Cox, of Ipswich.—At Dover, Mrs. Elgar.—Mr.
R. Taylor.—At Canterbury, Mr. E. Penny.