TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION I. 749 
was pointed out that these three plagues of Western India had certain characters 
in common in which they differed from the majority of plagues in other parts of 
the world. First, they were characterised by their greater intensity and persist- 
ence; secondly, during the greater part of their course, at all events, they showed 
more virulence in villages than in towns; thirdly, they spread over the affected 
country, like a wave, from village to village, and showed but little tendency to 
travel along trade routes; fourthly, in each of the outbreaks the pneumonic form 
of the disease was frequently observed. The fact that these outbreaks resembled 
each other, and differed in general from outbreaks elsewhere, in the above 
characters accords with the idea that they have a common origin. One apparent 
exception, however, which is of great importance, must be described. This is the 
black death. So far as evidence goes this outbreak was distinguished by each of 
the characters that have been ascribed to Indian plagues. In order, therefore, to 
be able to hold that Indian plague is of Garhwal origin it is necessary to show that 
the black death may possibly have been derived from the same source. 
The black death is known to have been imported into Europe from the town 
of Caffa, in the Crimea, where the Tartar army had been besieging some Italian 
merchants. According to an Arab historian, Aboel Mahasin, the plague was 
brought to the Tartar army from Tartary, where it was present in the year 1346, 
if not earlier. At that period trade in horses and merchandise existed between 
India and Tartary. It is therefore necessary to investigate whether a Nassik 
festival occurred shortly before that time, and whether it was accompanied by an 
outbreak of pestilence. At first sight a study of Indian history appeared to 
negative the suggestion. It is stated, however, in Elphinstone’s ‘ History of 
India’ that a rebellion broke out in Ma’bar in 1341, and that the army sent to 
suppress it was destroyed by plague. It appeared desirable to investigate this 
statement in detail. Counting back by twelve-yearly intervals, we arrive at 1344 
as the year of a Nassik festival. In view of the great antiquity of Indian religious 
festivals, we are safe in assuming that in that year a number of fakirs emerged 
from Garhwal on their way to the sacred shrine. Ma’bar is situated on the 
Coromandel coast, on the Madras side of India, and one would expect that the 
army of the Emperor of Delhi would not march anywhere near to Nassik. But a 
contemporary history dealing with the conquest of Ma’bar, some thirty-five years 
previously, describes minutely the route then followed by the army. It appears 
to have lain through, or near, Nassik, and the soldiers must have marched 
along the same route as the fakirs forall the first part of their journey. It is 
further recorded that when the army was destroyed by pestilence the Emperor 
himself was attacked, and that when suffering from the disease he halted at 
Deogiri, a town close to Nassik. It appears from a contemporary history that the 
army originally sent in 1841 was insufficient for its purpose; that the Emperor 
returned for reinforcements at a time when a famine was raging in Delhi, and 
that it was these reinforcements that were destroyed by the pestilence. The date 
of the famine is given as 1344. This is also given as the date at which the cam- 
paign terminated, and at which the rebels recovered their independence. Thus 
we have evidence that a plague broke out near Nassik in the year 1344, at a time 
when Garhwal fakirs were present, and it is obvious that this plague may have 
been carried to Tartary in time to have been the precursor of the black death, 
which is first known to have been present there in the year 1346. Other sugges- 
tions as to the origin of the black death, as, for instance, that it came from China, 
or from the supposed endemic area in Mesopotamia, or from the then existing 
endemic area of the Levant, if not contradicted by known facts, are at least 
unsupported by any positive evidence. 
2. Observations on the Senses of the Todas. By W.H. R. Rivers, UD. 
The observations on the senses of the Todas were made by methcds similar to 
those employed in the work of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to 
Torres Straits, The results are in general confirmatory of the main conclusions 
