241
5ATARA   DISTRICT.					
Area ...    ...    ...	...	...	...	...	4,987 sq. miles.
Population in 1891	...	...	...	...	1,225,989.
Density of population	...	...	...	245.84 per sq. mile.
Rainfall    ...  ...    ...	...	...	...	...	Average 50 inches.
Boundaries.
Sátára is bounded on the north by the States of Bhor and  Phaltan, and beyond   them
by Poona ; on the east by Sholápur and the Jath State ; on
the south by Belgaum and Kolhápur ; and on the west by the
Kolába and Ratnágiri District.
Climate and natural   features.
In the west water is fairly abundant.    In the east, hot weather after hot weather,   and
want of water causes much suffering. The supply comes partly
from rivers and streams, partly  from  reservoirs,  and  partly
from wells, which are numerous, but in many cases run dry during the hot season. The
Sátára climate is a marked change from the moist and relaxing Konkan. It is liable to
aggravate fever and render it more acute by contracting the surface vessels and forcing
inwards an increased flow of blood. The adverse condition is limited to the dry season,
or at least is considerably modified during the soft mild and damp south-west monsoon.
The soils of the District belong to three main classes, red  in the hills  and  black and
light-coloured in the plains.    The soil of the Krishna valley is especially rich.
About thirty-three miles north-west of Sátára, is Mahábaleshvar, the chief sanitarium   of
the Bombay Presidency.
Previous epidemics.        There is no previous authentic record of plague in Sátára.*
Sátára District.
Population-225,989.
First Epidemic (October 1896-June  1897).-The Sátára District,  one  of the earliest
attacked in the whole Presidency, fell a prey to plague while it
was yet suffering from a famine of great severity. Imported
plague was reported in the District as early as October 1896,
during which month 4 cases (all fatal) occurred. These were followed by 25 cases-
21 deaths-in the month of November 1896. But only in a few instances did these cases
communicate infection, though precautions of any kind were almost wholly absent. Thus
in January and February 1897, indigenous plague broke out in the villages of Sangwi
(Koregaon Táluka) and Akhade, Waluth, Panas and Khadshi (Jáoli Táluka), the infection
having been imported from Bombay. Of these places, Sangwi, Akhade and Waluth suffered
somewhat severely : but the villagers camped in the fields of their own accord, and the
plague died out in a short time. A few more cases were imported in March and in the first
week of April 1897.
No more was heard of plague in the District until it broke out at Karád in July with
terrible severity : and with the above cases, therefore, the epidemic in the Sátára District
may be said to end: The figures were as follows :-
"Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. XIX.
61