THE PLAGUE IN GURHWAL. 377 



their cattle housed on their ground-floors, which they never 

 think of cleaning out. On a village being attacked by this 

 plague, the terror-stricken inhabitants at once flee to the 

 jungles, leaving the unfortunate victims to their fate. 

 Strange to say, it is generally preceded by the rats being 

 found dead about the village it attacks. But the villagers 

 are often so apathetic as not to accept this warning until 

 too late ; consequently the infection is carried with them to 

 the jungles, where cold and exposure only aggravate the 

 disease, and they die there like rotten sheep, for those 

 attacked seldom recover. 



All honour is due to the memory of the late Dr F. Pearson 

 for his voluntary and perilous labours in attempting to dis- 

 cover the cause and stay the progress of this fell disease. 

 Many an anecdote of his dreadful experiences have I heard 

 from himself. He and his coadjutor, Dr Francis, had them- 

 selves often to remove the decomposing bodies from the 

 deserted houses for their post-mwtem examinations, as noth- 

 ing would induce the terrified natives to touch them. One 

 little episode was very characteristic of the people they had 

 to deal with. At a place where Dr Pearson had been rigor- 

 ously carrying out his sanitary measures by burning houses 

 that contained putrid corpses, having the cattle removed from 

 the villages, whitewashing, and suchlike the inhabitants sent 

 a petition to the commissioner of the province, imploring him 

 to take away the doctor sahib, as they said they would rather 

 have the mahamurree amongst them than him with all his 

 worry. These Gurhwal villagers usually grow, close about 

 their houses, a quantity of hemp, which they weave into cloth 

 during the winter months. The combined odours of this tall 

 rank plant and the village ordure are sometimes truly abom- 

 inable. No wonder the villages are hotbeds of disease. This 

 horrible pestilence seems to confine itself entirely to the 

 natives of the country. Even the pilgrims who yearly pass 

 through this province by thousands, on their way to and 



