24
under the peepul tree on the side of the water-course between the two smaller
tolas ; in each of them in November there was from 6 to 8 feet water, but in the
hot weather both were nearly dry, and the people could only obtain water by
scraping away with their hands the mud at the bottom and letting a little clean
water trickle in. The mouth of the surface well to the east of the village was
to a certain extent protected by a rough pavement, but at the spring there was
not the slightest protection, and the ground sloping towards the water from all
sides was also much fouled by cattle ; from this spring all the people of the two
smaller tolas would draw water and about half of the inhabitants of the main
village. For washing the people resort to the same part of the Shere as the
people of Sehora ; and where 1 crossed women from both villages were washing
clothes in the same pool. Cholera broke out on the 22nd May, and between
that date and the end of the month 36 deaths occurred, and by the 4th
June 61 cases and 45 deaths had been reported ; it then ceased. In this
instance there was no direct evidence to show that the disease had been import-
ed ; the first person attacked was a boy 7 years old, son of a Purdhan living
in the smallest tola in the western extremity of the village. He was taken ill
in the early morning of the 22nd (Friday) and died the next day; the father
and mother had been to the bazaar at Sehora on the previous Sunday, but
after that they had not left the village. Two other persons living in the second
tola and near the spring were attacked the same day, but neither of them
had left the village previously. Out of 10 persons living in the smallest tola,
4 died, or 40 per cent; of from 60 to 70 persons in the 2nd tola 13 died,
or 20 per cent ; of the remainder in the chief portion of the village 28 persons
or 10 per cent died. The total mortality in 13 days was 13 per cent of de-
population of the whole village.
84. Mohgaon is a village 3 miles from Lucknadown, situated on a hill ;
population 137. The two Dheemur women before mentioned (para. 51) arrived
here 011 the 28th, but no other cases of cholera occurred at the time ; subsequently
a woman of the village returning from Lucknadown was taken ill ; she recovered,
but her two children caught the disease and died ; there were no other cases.
Cholera was thus twice brought to this village, but it did not spread. The sola
source of water-supply is a surface well at a considerable distance in the valley
below ; it contains a good supply of water throughout the year. In want of
proper cleanliness this village did not differ from the other villages in which
cholera prevailed severely ; in fact the general description of these villages before
given applies to all alike, and it will not be necessary to refer to this point, except-
ing when a place may be exceptionally clean or dirty.
85. The town of Seonee has a population of 10,261 ; it is situated on the
main road on high ground with good drainage from it. Great attention had been
paid to cleanliness and conservancy, and during the prevalence of cholera it was
inspected almost daily by the Civil authorities. There are wells in the town the
water of which was 27 feet from the surface in November; it is, however hard and
rather brackish ; the better class of people draw water from a well in the public
garden, but a large proportion of the inhabitants depended on a pucka tank of
great extent and depth on the opposite side of the road, parallel with the town,
along nearly its whole length. Its catchment area is occupied by the town and
station, all the surface water of which runs into it ; the water must therefore be
very impure, and in the hot weather and early part of the rains the effluvia from
it is very offensive. Cholera first appeared on the 17th May ; the first cases
however were not attacked in the town but at some lime kilns in the jungle
about three miles distant. The outbreak is thus described by Doctor Brake
who inspected the locality at the time. There are no houses on the spot and
the place would strike one as particularly unhealthy. The pits are at the base