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SHOLAPUR   DISTRICT.				
Area      ...	...	...	...	...   4,542 sq. miles.
Population in 1891		...	...	...   750,689.
Density of population	...	...	...   165.28 per sq. mile.
Rainfall ...	...	...	...	...   25 inches.
Boundaries.
Sholápur District is bounded on the north by Ahmednagar and the Nizam's territory ;
on the east, by the Nizam's territory and the Akálkot State ; on the
south, by the river Bhima, the District of Bijápur, and the Patvar-
dhan and Jath States ; and on the west, by Atpadi. Sátára, Phaltan, Poona, and Ahmed-
nagar.    The District outline is irregular.
Climate ana natural
features.
The   climate   of Sholápur  is healthy,    and,   except   the   hot  months, March, April,
and  May, is agreeable  and  free   from extremes of heat or   cold.
The hot season from March to   June, especially during March  and
April, is marked by a dry scorching heat. The mean temperature daring this period is
80°; and the climate is oppressive, with strong hoi winds and occasional dust-storms. In
March the hot winds blow from i ho east, and in April and May from the west.
The soil of Sholápur is of three kinds-black, coarse gray, and reddish. Most of the
black soil is stiff and clayey, though near the meeting of the Bhima and Sina in the
Sholápur Sub-division it is particularly fine. The chief rivers are the Bhima, with its right
bank feeders, the Nira and the Man, and its left bank feeder, the Sinn, which receives the
Bhogávati from the north.
There is no authentic record of plague in Sholápur District previous to 1896.*
Sholaptir District.
Population-750,689.
Sholapur District has suffered from three epidemics, which occurred in three successive
years. Sholápur Town has suffered from one, but a severe one.
Akalkot State, which is under the Collector of Sholápur, has also
been attacked, but has so far suffered slightly. The datos of dura-
tion of these epidemics were-
1st Epidemic-17th December 1896 to 27th April 1897.
2nd Epidemic-21st September 1897 to 15th May 1898.
3rd Epidemic-19th July 1898 to 31st May 1899.
First Epidemic (Dccemler 1896-May 1897).-Plague began in the Sholápur District
with an imported case 011 the 7th December 1896 in Sholápur Town. Another imported case
was discovered the following day. A month later, on the 21st and 23rd of January 1897
2 more imported cases occurred. The first of these was presumably the cause of 4 indigenous
cases which occurred between the 24th January 1897 and the 1st February 1897, the starting
point in all these cases being Bombay. The notes made by Mr. W. T. Morison, the Collector,
on the cases are instructive :-
17th December 1896-A female passenger from Bombay  was  found, on arrival of  the
train at Sholapur, to be suffering from plague.    She died on the
way to the Segregation Hospital.
* Bombay Gazetleer, Vol. XX.
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