General course and distribution of the epidemic.

133

of the district. In Nowgong, the whole of which has been
affected by the epidemic, although it is not over there yet,
there has been a decrease of 29,477 bighas of land under
cultivation since 1891-92, in which year there were 150,465
bighas rented, while the average of the years 1890—92
were 23,024 more than that the average of the years 1894-96—
a most notable decrease which corresponds with a loss of
revenue of about one-fifth of the total. These figures speak
for themselves, and when it is remembered that, unless there
are an unusually large number of deaths in a village, the
survivors take up the land of those who have died, then some
faint idea can be formed as to the amount of mortality and
sickness such a falling-off in land cultivation and of revenue
must indicate.

         From the figures given above, it will be evident that some
very marked effect on the death-rate of the affected districts
ought to be noticeable during the epidemic years in any
district. Such is indeed found to be the case when the
number of deaths returned under the heading of "Fever"
(including those returned as kála-ázar during the last five
years since this has been made into a separate heading), is
examined.

         The chart opposite this page shows the monthly death-
rate from fever and kála-ázar combined during the years it
was prevalent in the Goalpara, Kamrup, and Nowgong dis-
tricts, one under the other in the order named from above
downwards. It was only in September 1891 that the
deaths from kála-ázar were separately returned, and since that
date in the Nowgong district there has been a steady decline in
the number of deaths returned under the head of Fever, as
those returned as kála-ázar, has increased. It is evident then
that many deaths from ordinary fevers have been returned
under the head of Kála-ázar, so that it would be incorrect to
take the latter figures as showing the increased death-rate
from the epidemic disease. By combining both together and
comparing the total with the former death-rate from ordinary