THE PILGRIM PATH OF CHOLERA. 647 



these tanks. Their contents more or less resemble pea-soup in 

 color, and their composition has been officially reported as similar 

 to concentrated London sewage. Those conversant with the uses 

 to which these tanks are put will not be surprised at this state- 

 ment. And yet these ponds of filth are constantly resorted to for 

 the cleansing of utensils and the soaking, maceration, and wash- 

 ing of the rice and dalil, and in the preparation of sweetmeats. 



The nullah can be waded across at low tide, but it is the recepta- 

 cle of unspeakable filth of all kinds. After describing the insani- 

 tary arrangements of the neighborhood, Dr. Simpson remarks that 

 " without a good water supply, or drainage, or proper means of 

 disposal of the excreta and sulliage, with crowding together of 

 huts and houses irregularly placed, and with the filthy tidal nullah, 

 which is practically the sewer of the district, and with numerous 

 polluted tanks, Kalighat, it may be surmised, is at no time a 

 healthy spot, and at all times a danger to pilgrims." On the oc- 

 casion in question at least 150,000 people came into Calcutta in the 

 first and second weeks in February. Great throngs came on foot 

 whose numbers were not noted, 25,000 came by boat up the nullah, 

 90,000 came by the Eastern Bengal State Railway, and 32,000 by 

 the East Indian Railway. Obviously the influence of railways in 

 intensifying the danger of quick and wide diffusion of cholera 

 after great festivals must not be neglected. 



To describe the crowding which occurred in the nullah on the 

 festival day is difficult. Perhaps the accompanying photographs 

 will give some idea of the scene, and of the recklessness with which 

 the filthy water was being bathed in and splashed over the head 

 and even drunk. A large proportion of the pilgrims would not 

 drink filtered water. They had come, they said, to bathe in and 

 drink Ganges water, and they would have none from the stand- 

 posts or the carts. Happily, the tube-well near the police station 

 was not considered unholy, and was in lively requisition. The 

 picture shows the crush to be very great, and it is marvelous that 

 no accidents happened. 



Among the large number assembled there it was not likely 

 that cholera would be entirely absent, and if present it was certain 

 to be spread by the customs of the festival, and thus it happened 

 that in the second week in February nearly two hundred of the 

 pilgrims died from cholera. The pilgrims soon had to be dis- 

 persed, and though their dispersal checked a larger outbreak at 

 Kalighat, which would only have widened its circle afterward, it 

 could not prevent those already infected from suffering on their 

 way home. Consequently, at some of the railway stations sick 

 people had to be taken out of the trains ; passengers by boat died 

 on their voyage, their bodies being thrown overboard ; while trav- 

 elers on foot were picked up dying or dead on the roads. 



