118	Extent and course of the plague	[ CHAP. V.
Poona district.
Satara.
a death-rate of 24 per thousand. In Poona district the number of
reported cases amounted to 1,186. The disease was worst in Kirkee
cantonment and the small station of Lonavla, and it extended to ten
other places. In Satara district very few cases occurred during the
first period of the epidemic. The cases in this district belong to the
period of the recrudescence and will be noticed later on. In Nasik
and Ahmednagar districts there were few indigenous cases.
Palanpur.
In the third division the outbreak at Palanpur was the most
important incident. Here there were 167 indigenous cases mainly at
Palanpur itself. The number of indigenous cases in Ahmedabad,
Baroda territory, and other places in the third division was small.
Mandvi.
In Cutch (the fourth division) the outbreak began with an epi-
demic at Mandvi, which was one of the worst that occurred. The
number of reported indigenous cases was 4,359, or more than 11 per
cent. of the population, and it is known that large numbers had been
attacked before the existence of the epidemic was brought to the
notice of the authorities. From Mandvi the disease spread to a number
of villages in the State, and for several months caused considerable
mortality.
Course of the
epidemic.
In the months of October and November, 1896, isolated imported
cases were detected from time to time at different places in the pre-
sidency, but it was not until December that the epidemic began to
show a marked tendency to spread. The imported cases were at first
most numerous in the Ahmedabad district, but here they failed to
occasion any diffusion of the malady. Only 27 indigenous cases
were reported in all: they occurred between the middle of February
and the end of the first week in May. Satara district in the Deccan
was one of the localities in which indigenous cases appeared at
an early stage, but here also the infection did not spread. Only 88
indigenous cases were reported during the first period of the epidemic,
mostly in November and February. It is remarkable that Satara
should have escaped so easily during the first period of the epidemic
and yet have been the source of an outbreak of extreme violence
during the recrudescence.
Thana.
Turning to the districts of the first division, it will be seen that
Thana became infected in the month of December, and that the number
of cases rose rapidly during January, February and March. The
last part of March and first part of April included the worst period
and the highest number of indigenous cases (389) was recorded dur-
ing the week ending the 2nd April. In the beginning of May the
number of cases decreased quickly and the fall was rapid throughout
May and June. By the end of June the epidemic had for the time died
out. In Surat and Kolaba districts the beginning of the epidemic