The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-09-10

uloUIlCU VI OIlHdsHsdr, III Uu6 eAUTelHo uOi Va
of India, was the centre of the plague.
There were 1000 deaths there in one
week. All work in the country districts
was suspended. The ignorant and SUI
perstitious people felt that a judgment
was on them and made no attempt to
stay its ravages. Hundreds were taken
sick daily and lay down by the roadside
OF in the fields to die. The dead were
Left Unburied in the Blazing Sun,
and the stencil became horrible. The
capital of the district, the city OF Srlna-
gar, took fire and burned to the ground.
The inhabitants, without food OF cloth
ing, took to the country to increase the
awful misery there. An attempt was
made to help them from Lahore, but it
resulted in carrying the cholera there,
with hundreds of deaths. Srinagar was
one of the filthiest cities OF India. Be
tween May 6 and June IL, 5000 OF its
population of $4,000 died of cholera.
There were 29S deaths on May %. The
dead were seldom buried.
Meantime the cholera in Turkey was
increasing. The government report OF
May 81 said that "a frightful outbreak OF
the plague. accompanied by great loss OF
life, was reported from Mesopotamia, y
the country lying between the Tigrls and
the Euphrates Thus the present cpl
demic has two sources far removed, one
east of Persia in India, and the other
west of Persia in Turkey, but both tend
ing north to the Caspian Sea, and thence
into Europe. Whether they had COM
mon origin cannot now be determined.
1t is to the Indian outbreak, however,
that the European epidemic is due.
The Westward March of the Plague.
In April the cholera began it's west
ward march from India to the Caspian
Sea. 1t had laid waste large territory
of northern India. It crossed the Indus
and invaded Afghanistan. Cabul was
attacked with frightful loss OF life, and
then Herat, where, in spite of the album
dant water in and around the city, the
camps of the pilgrims and traders gave a
mighty impetus to it's spread. The vii
lagos along the caravan routes between
these two cities were attacked, and the
plague spread north and south through
the country districts. From Herat it
went northwest to the holy city of Me-
shed, the Mecca of many eastern princi-
palities. There its devastations were
terrible. For weeks the deaths averaged
over 100 daily, 1t is still raging there,
the last reports being that it was on the
decrease, the daily death roll having
dropped to IS. Still westward the chol-
era travelled in the wake of the caravans.
1t attacked Sulvzabar and other towns,
and in few days reached Asterabad, on
H.. Il
in the neighboring provinces were very
great. lis appearance at Asterabad
alarmed the Russian authorities, and all
the Russian ports on the Caspian were
closely quarantined. There is a consid-
cradle trade between Asterabad and As
crakhan, at the mouth of the Volga.
Meantime the cholera had also been
spreading north from Meshed, following
lines of caravan traffic over the noun
tains, and had appeared at the large city
of Askhabad, an the northern frontier of
Persia. From here its spread along the
line of the Transcaspian Railroad was
very rapid 1t almost Immediately APP
peared several hundred miles west at
Usun-Ada, a railroad city on the east
shore of the Caspian, the port through
which the enormous trade of Turkestan
and central Asia reaches Russia by water
This news created great alarm in ST.
Petersburg, and equipments for quaran-
timing the Russian ports of the Caspian
were redoubled. The cholera also ran
eastward along the railroad to it's termi-
nus at Khodan, attacking every town on
the route and spreading into the country
districts of Turkestan and Russian Asia.
The
Great Russo-Asiatic city of Bokhara.
with its extensive European trade, was
stricken heavily, as also was the entire
State of Zamarkand to the east. The
reports from these centres of trade and
manufacture indicate large losses OF
life.
Thomas C. Heenan, United States Con-
sui at Odessa, reported as follows on
June s:
81 found Bokhara, when visited it in
in April, very clean for an Asiatic city,
| and [ expressed my surprise to the Rus
sian residents. was informed that the
Russians had compelled the Ameer to
have the city thoroughly cleansed. going
even to the extent of obliging the pious
Mussulmans to kill their sheep outside
the city limits, condition of things by
no means relished by the natives who
prefer to do their killing ON the streets
| fronting their shops"
In May the cholera crossed the Caspian
in spite of all precautions, and invaded
Baku, Russian seaport just south of the
Caucasus Mountains. 1t is the great
petroleum port of the Caspian, and filthy
| beyond description. Sewerage and a
proper water supply were never provided
Notwithstanding the large size of the
city, and there was never an attempt at
sanitation. The ravages of the disease in
this town have been frightful from the
beginning Day after day the cable has
sent us reports of the deaths, which fire.
quently exceeded 100 daily. 1t is still
undated. From Baku it spread rapidly
all over the country south of the eau
casus Mountains. Tif1is, Elizabetapol
Shamachi, Errivan and Shurha, all large
and important cities, yielded large death
crops daily, and the village and country
districts suffered and still continue to
suffer greatly. The cholora was now il
Europe, and it spread rapidly. The
authorities, much alarmed, bent all then
energies toward keeping it from AS
trakhan, the port at the mouth of the
Volga. But they were unsuccessful The
ships from Bal1u and Asterabad and
| l. l. d., ~r1J