432 The pilgrimage to Mecca. [ CHAP. XV.
respective provinces after they and their effects had been disinfected.
The first batch left on the 8th March.
Pecuniary
concessions
made to inteding
pilgrims.
In order to lessen the disappointment of the intending pilgrims
and as some compensation for the detention and inconvenience to
which they were subjected, the Government, in addition to sending
them home free of charge, repaid to them (at the treasury nearest their
homes) the cost of the tickets which they had purchased for the pas-
sage to Jeddah. A number of poor pilgrims from Northern India who
were stopped at Calcutta were also paid the price of a third class
railway fare from Calcutta to their homes. Some others, finding the
pilgrimage from Bombay stopped, purchased tickets at Bombay for use
at Calcutta and then, eluding the police, and travelling to Calcutta in
order to embark at that port found that they were again prohibited
from sailing. The Government refunded to them the price of their
tickets.
Central Asian
pilgrims.
About one hundred and fifty Central Asian pilgrims were
despatched from the Nasik camp to Peshawar. They petitioned to be
permitted to remain in India until the next pilgrimage. Some amongst
them had spent a life's savings in preparing for the pilgrimage
and were most averse from returning. The permission was granted,
and in addition indigent pilgrims from Central Asia who did not desire
to stay in India were granted Rs. 30 each for the return journey and
a certificate stating the number of days during which they had not
been in an infected locality and that they had passed ten days in an
observation camp before leaving the infected area.
The return of the Pilgrims from Jeddah.
Many pilgrims
left for the
Hedjaz before the
prohibition.
Arrangements
necessary to
prevent their
spreading
infection on
return.
Before the issue of the orders suspending the pilgrimage a con-
siderable number of pilgrims had already gone from India to the
Hedjaz, and when the time of the return pilgrimage approached, it
became necessary to make arrangements for the reception of the
pilgrims, with a view to prevent their taking infection on landing and
spreading it to other parts of the country. It was ascertained from
Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at Jeddah that three thousand pilgrims
were likely to return to India by five ships, of which the first was timed
to sail on the 20th May. Fortunately the plague in the City and Presi-
dency of Bombay had by this time greatly diminished and the danger to
be anticipated from the returning pilgrims was thus greatly lessened.
Despatch from
Bombay by
special trains.
It appeared, however, to the Government of India to be essential
that the returning pilgrims should not be permitted to mix with the
population of the still infected part of the country before making their
way to their homes. Arrangements were therefore made under