Climate.

THE climate though feverish and relaxing is perhaps less relaxing than Ratnagiri and less feverish than Thana. The district includes two climatic divisions, a comparatively pleasant and healthy belt of coast, end a more trying and less healthy inland tract. In this respect Kolaba is worse than either Thana or Ratnagiri, that, in proportion to its size, the better or sea tract is much smaller than in the other Konkan districts. The chief health advantages of the coast tract are the equable climate, the fresh sea breeze, and the comparatively good water. On the other hand the slimy creeks, the decaying animal matter connected with the fisheries, and the thick growth of trees and hedges make it difficult to keep the coast villages tolerably clean or airy Perhaps from carelessness in clearing away decaying refuse, perhaps from the people occasionally feeding on unwholesome fish or shell-fish, sharp and apparently unimported attacks of choleric disease are commoner in the coast villages than in the inland parts. The long stretches of rice land and forest and the want of the fresh sea breeze make the inland parts of Kolaba more malarious than the coast. In the in land parts, especially perhaps in Mahad, water is scanty and bad, and the people are tried by the extreme heat of March, April and May, and by exposure to the heavy rains of June, July and August, when most of them are out ploughing, planting, or weeding in the wet rice fields. The great heat, the decaying vegetation, and the drying mud swamps make October and November specially unhealthy. And in December and January, though the thermometer rarely falls below 50°, the damp air in some of the inland hollows strikes chill and raw and causes much suffering from ague, colds, and lung affections.

Diseases.

The hospital records for the last thirteen years show that malaria is the prevailing cause of disease. Intermittent and remittent fevers, ague and exhaustion are most common in the inland tracts at the foot of the Sahyadris. Malarious fever is most general at the beginning of the cold weather and diarrhoea and dysentery during the damp chilliness of the rainy months. During the rains also the people suffer much from guinea-worm. In 1881 there were 432 lepers almost all of them Hindus and about three-quarters of them men. Syphilis is common especially in Mahad. Except 1873 and 1874 none of the thirteen years ending 1881 was free from cholera. The most deadly outbreak was in 1875 with 1453 deaths or 4.15 per 1000, and the mildest was in 1880 with twenty-seven deaths or 0.08 per thousand. In 1877 the first case of cholera occurred on the 12th of February at Alibag. The disease spread to Pen, Roha, and Mahad, and continued till the end of September. It was fiercest in the Alibag village of Nagaon where out of 165 seizures there were 110 deaths between the 17th and the 30th of June. The total number of deaths was 1124 or 3.21 per thousand.

Dispensaries. 1881

In 1881, there were three dispensaries, two grant-in-aid and one Government. The three dispensaries had 24,735 patients, 24,428 out-door and 307 in-door; the cost was £759 12s. (Rs. 7596). The following details are taken from the 1881 report.

Alibag.

The Alibag Government dispensary was opened about 1841. It has a building of its own. The commonest diseases are malarious fevers, skin diseases, bronchitis, bowel complaints including intestinal worms, and rheumatism. In 1881 public health was fairly good. Cholera visited the town during the south-west monsoon, and of twenty-two cases treated ten were fatal. Chicken-pox and mumps prevailed in an epidemic form at the beginning of the year. The total number treated was 8729 out-door and 179 in-door patients compared with 8360 and 153 in 1880. The cost was £472 4s. (Rs. 4722).

Pen.

The Pen dispensary was established in 1871 and is held in a hired building. The commonest diseases are malarious fevers, skin diseases, affections of the throat and chest, and bowel complaints. No epidemic occurred in the town, but cholera appeared in the neighbouring villages, and, out of fifteen persons attacked eleven died. Three major operations were performed and 169 children were vaccinated. The total treated was 8553 out-door and 97 in-door patients. The total cost was £194 2s. (Rs. 1941).

Mahad.

The Mahad dispensary was established in 1875. It has a building of its own. The chief diseases are malarious fevers, worms, chest affections, bowel complaints, and skin diseases. Cholera occurred in the town and district, and of forty-seven cases treated twenty-three were fatal. Three major operations were performed and eighty-five children were vaccinated. 7146 out-door and thirty-one in-door patients were treated. The cost was £93 6s. (Rs. 933).

lnfirmities.

According to the 1881 census 1557 persons (males 849, females 708) or 0.4l per cent of the population were infirm. Of the total number, 1500 (males 819, females 681) were Hindus, 49 (males 25, females 24) Musalmans, and 8 came under the head of Others. Of 1557, the total number of infirm persons, 147 (males 101, females 46) or 9.44 per cent were of unsound mind, 720 (males 309, females 411) or 4624 per cent were blind, 258 (males 145, females 113) or 16.57 per cent were deaf and dumb, and 432 (males 294, females 138) or 27.75 per cent were lepers. The details are:

Kolaba Infirm People, 1881.

Vaccination.

In 1881-82 under the supervision of the deputy sanitary commissioner the work of vaccination was carried on by five vaccinators with yearly salaries varying from £16 16s. (Rs. 168) to £28 16s. (Rs. 288). They were distributed over the rural parts of the district. Besides the vaccinators the medical officers of the three dispensaries at Alibag, Pen and Mahad carried on vaccine operations. The total number of operations was 9809, besides 577 re-vaccinations, compared with 6015 primary vaccinations in 1869-70.

The following statement shows the sex, religion, and Age of the persons primarily vaccinated:

Kolaba Vaccination Details, 1869-70 and 1881-82.

In 1881-82 the total cost of these operations, exclusive of those performed in dispensaries, was £450 16s. (Rs. 4508) or about 11½d. (7½ as.) for each successful case. The entire charge was made up of the following items: supervision and inspection £292 6s. (Re. 2923), establishment £145 (Rs. 1450), and contingencies £13 10s. (Rs. 185). Of these the supervising and inspecting charges were met from Government provincial funds, while £158 10s. (Rs. 1585) were borne by the local funds of the different sub-divisions.

Cattle Disease.

Both in the coast and inland sub-divisions the chief forms of cattle disease are musliya, phophsa or phansi, Iakiya-saraiya or ghat-sarp, kathvatiya, and devi. In musliya the body of the animal is feverish and weak, food and water are refused, the purgings are severe and offensive, and pieces of the entrails are passed. The coat of the animal stares and the mouth breaks out in sores full of maggots. The disease generally lasts from two to four days, though sometimes the animal dies within twelve hours. After death the lungs are decomposed, the stomach appears dried up, the blood and fat become watery and the flesh colourless, and the whole gives an offensive smell. In phophsa or phansi the body is feverish and trembling, the nose is dry, the liver swells and decays, the lungs are affected, and food and drink are refused. For three or four days the action of the bowels and kidneys ceases, then purgings begin in which pieces of diseased lungs are passed. The disease lasts from three to six days. After death the lungs and liver are found covered with eruptions, and the blood decomposed. In lakiya-saraiya or ghat-sarp, which lasts from four to six days, the throat swells, saliva and froth run from the mouth, and food is refused. After death the throat is found inflamed and both the throat and the tongue are swollen. In kathvatiya which lasts for three hours, swelling begins at the navel and stretches up to the liver. In devi which lasts for four days the body is feverish and eruptive, the eyes are red, and food and drink are refused.

Births and Deaths.

As shown in the Sanitary Commissioner's yearly reports, the total number of deaths in the thirteen years ending 1881 is 66,898 or an average yearly mortality of 5107, or according to the 1881 census, thirteen per thousand of the whole population. Of the average number of deaths 3442 or 67.39 per cent were returned as due to fevers, 867 or 7.18 per cent to cholera, 161 or 3.15 per cent to smallpox, 181 or 3.54 per cent to bowel complaints, and 835 or 16.35 per cent to miscellaneous diseases. Deaths from violence or accidents averaged 121 or 2.37 per cent of the average mortality. During the eleven years ending 1881 the number of births was returned at 62,855 or an average yearly birth rate of 5714, or, according to the 1881 census, fourteen per thousand. [Returns of births and deaths, especially birth returns, are very incomplete.] The details are:

Kolaba Births and Deaths, 1869- 1881.