October i, 1890.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
243 
here or anywhere else, the proportion of deaths of 
seizures are as nearly as possible^ the same as 
amongst human beings when Asiatic cholera be- 
comes epidemic ; that is, three-fourths and more 
of the earlier oases are fatal. Hence the value 
not so much of treatment, as of preventive measures, 
in the shape of nutritious food, shelter, especially at 
night, cleanliness and the free use of such dis- 
infectants as carbolic acid and other chemicals. 
The following is eharacteristio ; — 
On the Araohchi [in the Matara district,] being ques- 
tioned as to the reason why garden cultivation was no- 
where attempted, he replied that the want of water pre- 
vented any cultivation of this kind. He was reminded 
that in Jaffna, where less rain fell than here, a most 
thriving agriculture was carried on by means of well 
water. He remarked that such was not the custom 
here and there was no one to show the people who 
to proceed in such a matter. To the question why 
did not the Headmen instruct the villagers in this, 
the characteristic reply was, “ The Government had 
not given orders.” 
Again 
A circumstance occurred here which illustates very 
forcibly tbe^peculiarity of native character. The owner 
of one of the sick calves, a woman, had _ besought 
the assistance of the Commission for the sick animal 
with an importunity that showed her deep concern 
for it ; as she said, she regarded it as one of her 
ch ildren. The utmost attention and deference was 
p aid to the Commission : chairs were placed on a mat 
in front of the house, and coconuts were brought out 
in profusion. On returning from Dikwella and call- 
ing at this house, the woman peeped out of the door 
with a vacant stare, but no signs of rocognition, and 
resumed her occupation : the eldest son lay stretched 
at full length on his back in the front verandah ; 
hearing footsteps he turned half around, grunted, and 
resumed his former position, taking no need of any 
one. We knew by these infallible tokens that the 
calf was qui.te well, and so it proved. It was be- 
yond all danger, and the Commission was no longer 
an object of civility to its owners 1 
The difficulty of obtaining correct information 
from the natives here and in India, even when a 
census has to be taken, from their inveterate belief 
that all inquiries are made with a view to fresh 
or enhanced taxation, is curiously illustrated in the 
following passage 
An extensive cultivator, from whom some informa- 
tion was being obtained in regard to herds and 
agriculture, enquired when the new tax on cattle 
was to be levied, and how much was intended to 
be charged. On his being assured that no tax was 
contemplated, he enquired whv Government was so 
anxious to ascertain the number of cattle in each 
district and village if not for the purpose of taxa- 
tion, and listened with evident incr- dutity to fthe 
explanation that the information sought was for do 
other purpose than as a guide to the extent of losses 
tuffered by the people in this respect, and as an in- 
dication of the necessity for some measures being 
adopted to prevent the spfead of the disease. When 
reminded that the Government had undertaken an 
enquiry into Cattle Disease at the public cost, the 
rejoinder was that no doubt the new tax would pay 
for the Ooramission. 
I The opinions of the late Mr. E. B, Tytler, who 
i kept tine herds of “ Coast ” cattle at Pallikelle, 
I wet 1 thus delivered ; — 
I Itlurriau of a variety of types may be looked for 
after every cycle of drought when succeeded by wet 
I years and nothing I can think of can be done to pre- 
vent or alleviate it, beyond housing, separation of the 
attacked, dry warmth, good dry food, rock salt, ecru, 
piilons cleanliness, and such care ns < o’iimon senset 
, dicatns ; all those would doubtless be boueficial, bu 
will the people attend to it? 
The oommonsense of the wholel matter was thus 
' summed up by Mr. E. J. Browne of Melfort 
I I estate;— 
So far as I have been able to judge, well-fed and 
carefully tended cattle do not appear to be so liable to 
the disease. Were cattle kept in good condition, and 
occasionally well groomed with a curry comb, and brush, 
and above all kept warm and dry at night with a 
sufficiency of bedding, the cases of murrain in a herd, 
would, I believe, be reduced to a minimum. A fruitful 
cause of disease is the practice which native oattleowners 
have, by tying up their bullocks in the open air at 
night, wet or dry, without food or bedding ; and then 
after over-working them the following day, turning 
them out into poor patna grass, where they eat raven- 
ously the unwholesome food to be found there. “ Pre- 
vention is better than cure,” and good food, plenty of 
water, housing in warm and dry sheds in bad weather, 
and cleanliness, will do more to arrest the cattle disease 
than all the specifics that have yet been discovered. 
The late Dr. Thwaites (the well-known medical 
man, and not to be confounded with the botanist) 
contributed a paper on cattle disease in which he 
wrote ; — 
‘ Dr. Ferguson suggests lorge doses of Quinine, I 
understand, and, no doubt were Quinine accessible 
to the natives, even conveniently available to the 
Planters, in such large doses as Cattle would require, 
it would certainly be the best constitutional remedy 
we could propose ; but we must look elsewhere for 
our resources among the remedies with which the 
natives are familiar, and which are not within their 
reach, and such as they would teel disposed from 
their own prejudices to employ. The Alkaloid pre- 
paration, termed Peperin, derived from common pepper 
is now attracting great attention at home, as a subs- 
titute for Quinine as a tonic and stimulant, being 
equal to it in efficacy and immeasurably cheaper. The 
natives are perfectly conversant with the use of Black 
Pepper as a febrifuge, and I have often employed it 
myself among them with great advantage. I would 
therefore suggest the following prescription. 
“ Whole Pepper well reduced to a powder one 
table-spoonful, hoiling water one pint, to be well mixed 
and allowed to stand for half and hour, then given 
all together, ond repeated every two hours until the 
Fever subsides. 
The reference to Dr. Fergusson; as he spelled 
his name, then head of the Medical Department, 
arose from the fact that the present writer, as 
editor of the Observer, had recommended the use of 
quinine in cattle disease. There can be no question 
of the value of cinchona alkaloids as tonics and 
febrifuges, in the treatment of the lower animals as 
well as human beings, and now that those remedies 
can be obtained at so low a cost, we repeat the 
recommendation with more confidence than ever ; 
that is where^ the symptoms are manageable debi- 
lity or feverishness. — A passage from a report on 
murrain in the Matara district, by Mr. E. Elliott, 
may well be quoted. He recommended : — 
The enforcement of more attention to the cattle by 
their owners, if not for their own sake, for that of the 
proprietors of other property, especially growing crops. 
A good deal of attention is paid to black cattle in 
the Gangaboda Pattu, where they are regularly tethered 
out whenever there is any cultivation likely to attract 
them m the neighbourhood. But in the other parts 
ot the district very little trouble is bestowed on them ; 
this IS the case nearly everywhere in the Island, except 
in the Jaffna Peninsula and in the Wanny and Tam- 
ankadoowa, where the animals are driven home and 
tied up or kraaled for the night +o protect them from 
tlie ravages of wild animals. One Mudaliyar here 
reports that he does not believe there is a single aoimal 
in hiB Pattu which has not done damage worth several 
times its own value. 
There is much else of interest which might be 
quoted or noticed, but we have already dealt with 
the subject at such length, that here we must olose, 
—at least for the present. We have done our best 
to summarize the information available ; and if 
legislation is really resorted to it will be our duty 
to examine^ the regulations, imposive ot pro- 
wbitory, wbiob may bo proposed. 
