50 CLIMATE AND EESOUECES OF 



drainage of the sites of towns and villages, and the land 

 around them, as a sanitary measure, in Upper India. Near 

 all towns and villages in Upper India there exist pits and 

 hollows from which earth has been dug for building and other 

 purposes. These are being drained to get rid of the filth 

 deposited in and near them. As these pits and hollows have 

 for ages been used as latrines, and are still so used, and as all 

 the filth of the towns and villages drains to, and is accumulated 

 in them, it is evident that the drainage of these low lands 

 must throw a greater amount of filth into the rivers into 

 which they are drained; this eventually finds its way into 

 the Ganges, and may fairly be considered one cause of the 

 increased unhealthiness of Bengal. This increased unhealthi- 

 ness has only been noticed for a few years, probably since the 

 time that the improved surface- drainage of towns has been 

 in vogue as a sanitary measure. Quinine and drainage are 

 recommended for Bengal as remedies for the fevers prevalent 

 there. What can quinine and drainage effect when the causes 

 of the evil are not interfered with, but are, on the contrary, 

 being increased every day ? 



In the report of the Sanitary Commissioner of the North- 

 Western Provinces for 1870-71, it is said in para. 37, "Some- 

 times indeed a good landlord, or the cultivators in combination, 

 will make a good well, which, much frequented, soon becomes 

 noted for its surrounding filthy moisture ; for no care is given 

 to drainage, excepting, perhaps, that whenever a resident 

 finds accumulating water unpleasant, he endeavours to direct 

 it to the first conveniently- situated lower-lying place at hand, 

 without thought of his neighbours' rights or feelings." 



Fault is found, and very properly, with people for getting 

 rid of a nuisance by shunting it on their neighbours, but 

 throughout the report we find improved surf ace- drainage to 

 low grounds and rivers recommended as a means of getting 



