32 
THE THAN ATOP HIDIA OF INDIA. 
From tlie Central Provinces I have received no returns, but 
am informed officially by tbe Secretary to tbe Chief Commis¬ 
sioner, that 606 persons died of snake-bite in the year 1869 in 
those provinces ; no details are given. 
From Rajpootana no returns have been received, as I am in¬ 
formed by Colonel Keatinge, in an official communication, that 
“ the Native Governments never receive detailed reports of this 
natui-e.” 
From the North-west Provinces I have received reports from 
eight Divisions, including thirty-eight Districts, giving a total 
of 1995 deaths, of which 654 were of adult men, 952 of adult 
women, 199 of boys, and 190 of girls under twelve years of 
ase. The women were therefore 298 in excess of the men; 
o 
whilst the boys exceeded the girls by 9. 
The Cobra is accountable for 854 deaths, the Krait for 92, 
“ other snakes ” for 63, whilst to “ snakes unknown ” the large 
number of 986 is assigned; no doubt the majority of the “other 
snakes” and “ snakes unknown” were Cobra and Krait. 
From British Burmah I have received returns from Arracan, 
Pegu, Tenasserim, and Shewe Gyen, giving a total of 120 
deaths from snake-bite in the year 1869. Of these 95 were of 
men, or of boys over twelve years of age, 22 of women over 
twelve years, 3 of boys under twelve, and no girls under 
that age. In this case the male preponderate largely over 
the female deaths of all ages, 98 males and 22 females having 
suffered. 
Forty-five deaths are attributed to the Cobra, and all the rest, 
with a few exceptions, to the Yiper ( Daboia ), the remainder 
being ascribed to Hamadryads and Hydrophidee. In one case 
a master of a ship died at Moulmein from a bite inflicted when 
bathing—no doubt by some form of Hydrophis. 
From the Punjab I have received returns from the ten 
Divisions into which that province is divided, from thirty-two 
Districts, giving the number of deaths from snake-bite as 755. 
Of these 434 were of males, 184 of females above twelve years 
of age, 77 of boys and 32 of girls under twelve, making 727. 
The remaining 28 to make up 755, was the total number of 
deaths in the District of Umritsur, in which return the ages and 
sex are not distinguished. The males in this part of India 
appear to have suffered more than the females, in the pro¬ 
portion of 511 males to 216 females. The earliest age recorded 
was that of an infant one day old. Only 76 deaths are 
ascribed to the Cobra, none to the Krait, 242 to other snakes, 
437 unknown. Amonp' these no doubt many were due to the 
o o 
Bungarus, Cobra, and probably to the JEchis carinata. 
The total number of deaths recorded therefore stands thus - 
Bengal, including Assam and Orissa . . . 6645 
North-west Provinces.1995 
Punjab.755 
Oude.1205 
Central Provinces.606 
Central India. 90 
British Burmah.120 
Total. . . .11,416 
This total, large as it is, I fear cannot be regarded as the real 
mortality in these Provinces, nor may the numbers be accepted 
as an absolutely true indication of the relative frequency of 
deaths in each. The information from which these records 
were framed was probably only partial and imperfect. I believe 
that if systematic returns could be kept by the police in every 
district, subdivision, and municipality, the number of deaths 
recorded would be much larger. I believe also that were such 
information available and collected from the whole of Hindostan, 
it would be found that more than 20,000 persons die annually 
from snake-bite alone. 
If the suggestions that I propose to make, together with the 
description of the poisonous snakes to which this mortality is 
due, contribute towards its diminution, I shall feel satisfied that 
the investigations of the past three years have not been without 
results. 
The area represented by these returns is, I should think, 
rather less than half that of the Peninsula of Hindostan ; but 
from a return, for which I am indebted to W. W. Hunter, Esq., 
LL.D., C.S., I find it represents a population of 120,972,263. 
mm 
