The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-07-18
THE EGYPTIAN PLAGUE.
Cholera Eapidly Spreading in Alexan
lrio and Cofrn

O1O4Ci6 A1PANAy ORA O6AAA6 ~ AAOAdA-
dria and Cairo.
ALEXANDRIA, July 1.-THE cholera is spread
ing generally throughout the country The
sanitary conmiCsion is taking steps to Isolate
Alexandra, in which Gaze, thought TO be
cholera, was announced to-day. Twenty-eight
deaths from the disease occurred at Damietta
yesterday, thrty-eight at Mansurah and fifteen
at Samanoud.
The military Gordon is Get about the whole
Turkish quarter, and distasteful as the duty is,
800 troops have been drafted from the English
armv here for service on the Gordon lines,
which were yesterday enlarged and strength
ened The English forces here have also been
lessened by other details for cholera cordons,
as we'll as for service in the Soudan.
Despite the fact that the authorities do not
admit the presence OF the epidemic, they have
burned the contents Of the two houGes in which
thew say deaths occurred from dysentery and
puerperal fever, and have sealed the houEes up
and moved the Gordon line out OF the same
street into another section OF the Turkish
quarter Six houses have been burned. Forty
persons, who lived in the two houses already
named, have been imprisoned in quarantine at
Gambia. No person is ulioNed 10 pass out
from within the line except nurSes and physl-
clans, who submit TO dlSiniectlon, and no ore,
except for imperative .ons, enters the line.
chief sanitary commission, consisting of
fifty-four members, has been formed. with
smaller executive commissions and number
of department barrds, who have divided the
city off in sections, and who inspect all quar-
tiers. They have published official instruc lions
in French, Arabic and Greek, enumerating the
precautions to be taken to guard against infec-
tion and describing the treatment in case of
seizure. All the wine shops are clo-ed at mid
night. and force is used when nece.5ary, and
the sale of salt fish orr green or ove.-,ipe fruit
is strictly prohibited. But the same fruit is
thrown into the sea and rOts on the shore, car
ried back and forth by every tide, and no pos
sible precautions can prevent the filth which
49, h0..r ID
tive quarters
The only privileges granted to those within
the Gordon are the purchase OF provisions de-
liyered on the line, and OF conversing with the
persons acro-s the line, but without coming in
contact with them. The Gordon is practically
''dead line," for troops stand with rifles load
ed with ball and with fixed bayonets, and their
instructions are to use them under given cir
cumstanceS.
There is much danger that the progress of
the disease will be aided by the fast of the
Ronadap, which began July 9th. The days are
spent in fasting, followed by nights OF dissips-
tion and orgies. There will be forty days of
insufficient nourishment and forty nights of
over-indulgence ia wine and liquors
The Arabs and Turks have practically no
hospitals, and have au inveterate dislike to &C.
ing to one. They have no medicines IN the in
feeted towns of the Delta except laudanum,
and almost no physicians, scarcely averaging
one to each town, many of the native doctors
naVluB Hbu On buo hiSb dppoaAduSo VI tuo ule-
20. The sanitary inspector of Lower Egypt
is an Italian, but with all the assistance he can
get it is too late for him to do anything.
There is no longer any possibility OF securing
pa. sage by any of the ordinary steamers, and
vessels OF all sorts are being fitted out by spec-
uators who have placarded the town with
flaming posters, inviting the fugitives to pat
ronize them Thee men charge fabulous
prices for wretched accommodations
Rich families ara ohartering private steamers
- IL
part Of the city, except of the most necessary
sort, is almest at a standstll.
Cairo is in deplorable condition, and the
epidemic has appeared in every quarter of
that city. All that could he done in precau-
tionary way had been done In advance, and as
the disea6e advanced steadily mp the Delta al
mott et cry European left the city, most of
them reaching Alexandra, and hundreds Of
them succeeding IN leaving the country Sew
eral deaths are known to have occurred yester-
day and today, but the official report does not
give the number. Expert physicians now be-
lieve that no considerable town on the penin-
sula can escape, and that the disease will de-
vastate Egypt aud Arabia and pass into Syria
From no report received from any Of the infec-
led points can any estimate be made of the
population attacked, or the proportion of fatal
tiles, but at MansHraA neary every case is said
to have proved fatal.
CAIRO, July 1.-THE Sanitary Commission
Is ende.voring TO purify Cairo, and Co isolate
the disease takes a firm hold in the city it is
probable that it will be allowed TO take It's
course, and that general precautions only will
be taken to check ITS progress. Baker Pasha,
having expressed the opinion that the oordons
round the city are now useless, they will proba-
bly, be shortly all removed. There is reason TO
believe that many scattered cases occur In the
villages daily which the natives conceal, so as
to avoid the imposition OF Gordon.
ALEXANDRIA, July H.--Twelve deaths oc-
uf al nd Oot a1ah
The Sanitary Commission has rejected the
proposal to isolate Alexandria.
LONDON, July 17--Special dispatches from
Carlo agree that the number Of deaths there
from cholera far exceeds the number given in
the official report. The correspondent OF the
Daily News estimates there were go deaths
from cholera in Cairo Monday.
CAIRO, July 17.-The cordons around the in
fected districts have all been aband oned.
MARsEILLEs, July H. Several cases OF chol-
era have been developed at Palma, on the
island of Majorca. Many families are fleeing
thence TO the main land of Spain.