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SECTION VIII.

THE ORIGIN OF KÁLA-ÁZAR AND ITS RESEMBLANCE TO THE
"BARDWAN FEVER" EPIDEMIC.

      I have not been able to find any attempt whatever in the
numerous reports on the subject of kála-ázar to explain the
origin of the epidemic. It seems to have been generally
taken for granted that the disease is endemic in the Garo
Hills, and has been so far a very long period, and that it
spread from there in the early eighties to Goalpara, at the
foot of the hills, and has been epidemic in the Assam Valley
ever since. Why it should have suddenly spread in this way,
has never been explained. Dr. Giles makes no attempt in
his report to solve the mystery, but in a letter to the Chief
Commissioner of Assam, dated Sanawar, the 27th June 1892,
he writes—

      "My personal opinion is that the disease has been introduced,
within the last thirty years or so, and its appearance in the tea gardens
as what is now called beri-beri and in the Garo Hills as kála-ázar,
are alike phenomena, dependent on the improvement of communica-
tions and increase of intercourse which have resulted from the estab-
lishment of British rule, and the consequent advance in civilisa-
tion."

      The question is, however, one of considerable practical
importance, for if the epidemic arose from a disease which is
always present in the Garo Hills, it may do so again at any
time, and unless we know what causes it thus to spread, we
shall not be in a better position to meet it than we were in the
eighties. If, on the other hand, it is not endemic in these
hills, but was introduced therefrom without, a correct know-
ledge of its true origin will be equally of importance. Again,
it has never been explained why the disease never broke out
to the south of the Garo Hills, and spread to Mymensingh and
Sylhet, as it might have been expected to have done at the
same time that it spread up the Assam Valley, if it really
arose in these hills.