The sun., 1897-06-06
INDIA UNDER THE PLAGUE.
DAILY IScIDESTs DEsCRIBED BT
AN ETETITyEs&


tsr mss Aess-pasy the Pe-sl,esce - Hs
stess sr ahatea~zt-Hsv TIE FisEss nrras-
YrV- tA< 81. Josses's Gaa,f,s-
This morning we numbered the dead A pail
! Of heat hung over the Land 80 sitting and ehok-
/ ing that IL made the train throb in agony. We
went down a long. topheavy. high housed lane.
Every door n as lockc-i. every easement fastened.
The Inhabitants were al dead OF hsd noNa- Four
cr.iss carDe sl.iherInS thciT thin shanks through
! the dust and shouting Make way! make way
Oa their shoulders res.ed a pole and from Il
! swung an ambulance. There ~as another victim
Round the conner We fOuad q mass Of
s.soaldering rubbish in the roadway. emitting
horrible sickening fumes Three HindoOs
dragged bedding and mating from a rickeiy
/ shauty. threw It upon the fire. and famed {: 10
Game. They were destroying all the goods o! \
dead .ar5ily. Down the street house after house
bose the IT,, red circle Its portals telling that
| death had been hungry there We knocked a.
one door. There Was answer. We knocked
| again A Eresrbed old man. nArrowchested.
with his bony shoulders bent and prptruding.
his fingers long and skinny. his face wrinkled.
bis eyes shifty with fright came and looked
! through the lattice. "Open!' why. sAhihs:
| why. sahibs, should openr You have sick
ness here" The Old man iremhled- - No. sahibs.
| there is no sickness here" "Openl" we
| said. With pAlsicd hands he opened the door
| Through = dark passage we struggled 70
| darker room There were four women and three
| nlen-poor. worn. physically wretched beings
Are all well herer' oh. yes, sahibs:
all we'll NO ono has had sickness r mo.
sahibs. none We looked a. the erouehinE
| crowd-the slert-eyed. suspicious. lying Hin
| doOs-ard glanced at the huddied women All
are we'll r. YES, sahIbs." We were about to
turn when one Of Us exclaimed. W hat Is this r
The head covering vas pulled from n WOMAN
| She 4 shrivelled old creature And she was
! dead: cold dead-dcad Of the plague That Is
| how the shadow spreads over india.
| am writing this al kArachi. the great port o:
J Sind. with congiomerate population Of feeble
| Hindoos. fAnat:cal MosleIns. swaEgering AZ
ghsns, sullen but brswny BAluchis, and dozen
low-caste races. The population is small com
! pared with Bombay. But the visor Of the
! plague Is appalling. One walks through the
| streets with hesitAtirg breath TO watch the
! hasty professions OF the dying. TO visit the
search parties looking for the dead TO inspect
the burning Of the houses Of the dead and the
destruction OF their clothing. When the plague
fisst came 1t attacked the Hiadoos- ''Ah." said
the Nobammedans. this is a Hindoo scourge;
its dull. sinister eye on the Mohatnmedans. and
they die like flies. Allah is angry with US: we
have done wrong: IL Is a visitation they cay.
torta in Bombay was dishsured- Sshib.' said
furrow-browed, large boned rrsty.voiced No
haInmedan to me. " sahib. ] understand AL.
Tine English Government is displeAsed- They
think we natives did the indign:ty. And they
punish US: they poisoning all our people All.
sahib, yon smile Allah is great and this Is the
come to them They give them poison. Then
they die. Sahib. have ] not scent DO not
know All the people in India are to be killed
g the raviqs infection sweeps On y pe.,ilsn.
tia! course. Il is hid from the authorities: whole
To pSson & hH sisse sse st1s
-aNr ff,s
often downheartedly. teseeehIng. urging coerr-
ing-thaI is the work OF the authorities. The
blessed by priest. They tic IL in a leather case
upon thel- arms II that will not induce Allah
10 keep OF the visitation .hat viii
! Before the plague came kArachi was cleaused.
! Every native house and shop was white ewashed-
roadway, and the people sat on their lean
haunches watching the work OF the cleaners.
Suddenly the black death appeared II settled
in district. and then, octopuslike, stretched
; long arms for fresh victims. When a man died
: fetid. yile-odored hole to wash the corpse and
! wrap it in white raiment. That day. when The
body had been pushed inio santy grave out
/, encd The next day and the day after il was they
who were washed and put in white clothes. The
their blood was fresh and clear; maybe the
> reason was that they had not touched
l were dead. and they had no one TO care
!. for them. No native thought OF precautions
Wsen the scoufse @ @ sawed ID the the lie from woi. 15
streets terror crept INTO the hearts Of the people
, | Then they hed in thousands. The muniCipa
4 authorities, medical officers. and native assist
: ants hunted for the ai!lnS But when man o,
n Mohanaedan o. quarter the hrts are the fimsies ai
nothing but slim poles covered with mating
! raise the mating and push the sick person intC
On the outskirts of the town. on \ dry waste
= the municipality has erected hundreds Of huts
,. Here the richer Hindoos were prevailed on L
live. 900 of then But the plague broke ou
death. for the kGts had BEEN en- burned id down. WI Tn
d pital. Every bed Is occupied The hardly In
$ ished Sd Duteria Hospital is even turned @ to use
u When there is death all who have been il
4. camp. There is wailing and exPostqlation a
'S this. l saw ragged. dirty family cIjnGins !,
looking on With strained and nc teaF.illed eyes sea
their little possessions burning p in The street rect
fastened and the painting Of The sign q death
- When the plague RACES hlindly in one cluster Q
" houses, then everybody remaining in the dis
wife died last nis sht., sakie. he ssd :! know
II lam to be killed Ny wife was killed IA, Al % og
t. doctor going among them. she takes some stu;
out OF green bottle and puts it on their tongues
le' In the bazaar. many OF the shops are shut
4. tered. But the streets are AMI innate with MOI
a; a; terror Indeed. at moments one could fore &c
'f from the mind that the death cloud hoverc
c, about Al turns in the way we encountered III
IN search parties-ganGs OF serricd men who di
- the awful work to- good pay. e How man
IS deaths heref' Four during the night. sahih.
t, How is that with the previous night r. "Tw
h ! less, sahib." We went on further. How man
r cases had you yesterday = Nearly sevent,
x sahib. and ifty-six deaths" Hasty, clear. Gt
n cisiye instructions are given. Doctors, ~
N faced with unceasing toll, como forward to r,
d port. In places the plague is relaxing; at other
IT ! IL Is increasing virulently.
:, We went across thc burning sand to a hshin
u village lying on the bay. 1t is cut OF I-or
s. Karachi. the air 10 pure; and yet il IS the pes
In he'd of the plague The people are OF the loves
r caste. The men, with their seq life, are muscr
y lar and vigorous; the women arc !i;he, graceful
finely featured. No family has escaped. The
o. know they are being swept 10 their graves as
lie few years ago they were with the cholera. Blu
III they raise no finger to fight the disease. Do,
Or ge'sly they resist removal to the sequestratio
Is camps, medicine they pitch away.
lie The Commissioner called for the head MAJ
is He is a tawny well-formed Mohammedan, Wit
70 Semitic Countenance-inielliRent, inquir!nl
IA arEumcntative. He has a certain air OF dignity
a. impaired BY the long white shawl thrown abou