Page 28 - PERSIAN 4 1899_1905

ADMINISTRATION REPORT ON THE PERSIAN GULP POLITICAL
20

EPIDEMICS.
Maskat had been free from epidemio disease for so many years that the
community had begun to believe that the climate was proof against any serious
outbreak of disoaso. The events of the past year, however, have rudely dis­
abused them of the illusion.
Cholera after beginning insidiously in Matrah probably early in September
was declared epidemic on 30th of that
Cholera.
month, and continued to spread through­
out Oman until it finally died away towards the end of January. Tho mor­
tality in Maskat and Matrah is believed to have been about 600, and in Oman
generally it is estimated that 12,000 persons fell victims to its ravages. An
interesting report on the subject was drawn up by Lieutenant-Colonel Jayakar,
Agenoy Surgeon, and is attached to this report.
Hardly had cholera begun to die out when plague made its appearance.
It has never been ascertained satisfac­
PUgue.
torily how the infection was brought to
Maskat, but as it commenced in the Khoja community who are in constant
communication with Karachi, it is probable that it was imported from thence.
Maskat was declared infeoted on 10th January 1900 and was not declared free
of the disease till the 26th May. It is difficult to give any reliable statistics
as to the deaths and cures. As in the case of cholera, the disease first went
its course in Matrah, and then as it began to die out there, it took root in
Maskat. The fact that a severe form of fever and influenza prevailed at the
same time, and that the populace generally were very 6low to como forward
and report their sick, in fact did their best to conceal them for fear of being
subjected to undesired attentions of the local authorities, made it difficult to
know what amount of the extra mortality was due to plague and what to
ordinary fever, but it is probable that many of the deaths reported as suspi­
cious were really due to plague. Segregation was adjudged to be impossible
in a oommunity such as that of Maskat, but disinfection and inoculation were
carried on, and the Sultan had hospital sheds built in Maskat and Matrah for
such as could be persuaded to use them. Some 400 persons in all were inocu­
lated with M. Haffkine’s serum. The Sultan engaged a medical practitioner
from Bombay experienced in plague work together with an assistant, especially
to assist in combating this epidemic. He was also arranging to entertain a
trained native nurse for the same purpose when happily the advent of lfot-
weather brought the epidemic to an end. I am glad to say that, so far as is
known with the exception of one or two suspicious cases reported, there was
no spread of the disease to the interior as was the case with cholera.
NAVY.
Maskat was visited during the year by Her Majesty’s Ships Pigeon,
Redbreast, Assay e% Sphinx, Lapwing, Melpomene and Pomone.
The K.I.M.S. Lawrence also visited Maskat in December 1899.
Foreign Navies were represented by the German Cruiser Arcona and
the Turkish gun-boat Say id el Daria which touched at Maskat en route for
Constantinople.
SLAVE TRADE.
During the year under review, no slave dhows were captured by any
of Her Majesty’s Cruisers of the Persian Gulf Squadron. Out of a total of 43
slaves who applied during the year to this Consulate for protection and free­
dom, 41 were manumitted under the stipulations of the treaty of 1873, one
left of his own accord while his case was under investigation, and one was
dismissed not being entitled to freedom. Six Africans were given manumission
by Lieutenant-Commander Moubray of H.M.S. Pigeon and one by Lieutenant-
Commander Travers of H.M.S. Redbreast under the provisions of the Brussels
Act, all of whom had taken refuge on board these vessels. A batch of eleven
slaves recently imported, three of whom were manumitted by the Political
Bcsident in the Persian Gulf and sent here for repatriation, was dispatohed