( xxvii )

I do not think, however, that this table shows at all well, nor is it possible
to show, the amount of real work performed. As far as the first two columns
are concerned, no doubt they do so, but not the others. For instance, the faci-
lities for travelling vary much—by rail, by boat, &c.—as well as the nature of
the country travelled over. Then, again, in the matter of villages visited, it is,
strange to say, a very erroneous guide. In Sindh, for instance, every collection
of two or three houses is considered a village, and entered as such in the re-
turns ; whereas in the Konkan and Deccan a village consists of the village
proper, or " Mouje" as it is called, and of a number of "Wádís" or hamlets, in
some cases a mile or two miles from the village proper, and sometimes as large
as the town or village itself. In fact, no matter how many different collections
of houses there may be on the land belonging to a particular village, or how
far apart these may be, the whole is considered as one village only. In
some cases there are as many as six or eight, and even ten or more of these
" Wádís," some of them as big as the village town itself. If these were shown
separately as in Sindh, the number of villages shown in the statements of the
Superintendents of the Central, Southern, and Western Circles, at least,
would be more than double the number shown in the present return. Again
in the matter of children inspected, there is also a great variety. In the re-
turns of some Superintendents, as for instance those of Messrs. Cody and Colá,
the greater number of the children's names were read over, and the registers
tested, column by column and name by name ; whereas in some Circles the
work is tested principally by examining the arms, one by one, of the children
present merely. Hitherto inspections have thus been done in two ways, as
time permitted or circumstances allowed, viz. (a) by reading over the names
of the children from the vaccinator's register and testing it column by column ;
(b) by arranging the children in a row, examining their arms, and counting