Page 35 - PERSIAN 4 1899_1905

RESIDENCY AND MASKAT POLITICAL AGENCY FOR THE YEAR 1899-1900.
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fact that the localiUea most severely affected were those in which the most unfavourable
bypiemc conditions both of the porsons inhabiting them and their surroundings abounded.
Dcnfoly-pcopled huts with barely .any ventilation in th-m and situated in the vicinity of
graveyards and mounds of rubbish and filth including human and other excreta in all stages
of decomposition, such ns exist in the suburbs of Jabra and Tuyan and in the Aryaneh
quarter of the town contributed tbo largest number of viotiras to the disease. It was most
rife in the following four localities.

Names of localities. Number of attacks.

Suburb of Tayan . • . , 806
„ of Jnbrn . . . )45
Arvaneb (a quarter of the town) 127
Baluchi quarter (a quarter of the town) 97

The total number of deaths in Maskat and Matrah together, ns far as it bns been
Mortality. possible to ascertain, as due to cholera was 726,
, * giving a ratio cf about 54 per cent, to attache and
one of 2-9 per cent, to the population. This ratio of deaths to attacked was slightly more
than the usually accepted average of 50 per cent, and appears, in my opinion, to°have been
somewhat influenced by the nature of the treatment that was adopted in the majority of the
case.-, ior judging from the result of the comparatively few ca«es for which medical relief was
soeght either at the bcspi'al or with me in Matrah, which gives a ratio of only 23’8 per cent,
of deaths to attacked, there is reason to think that a more favourable result might have been
obtained bad it been possible to induce the friends of many more of the attacked persona to
call f«'r medical relief instead of their trusting to irrational remedies and measures. Even in
the case of such of the attached poisons a« were tnated by ns, a further reduction in the ratio
of mortality might have bc^n looked for had th«*ir fiiends been more prompt in calling for
medical relief and more persevering and regular in reporting the progress of snch cases, for in
msny instance* it occurred that after the receipt of the first medicine or medicines no further
report was brought.
The number of deaths in Maskat was 274 giving a ratio of about 61 per cant, to the
attacked and one of 2 7 percent, to the general
Death* io Mask at.
population. The rates of mortality in proportion to
the attacked among all the three principal classes were very close to one another, the Arabs
having had it in the ratio of 63*1 per cent., the Baluchis 60*4 per cent., and the Africanj 61*2
per ct-nt. The slightly higher rate of mortality among the Arabs may have becD to some
extent die to the pnctic°B of branding and bathing in cold water as remedial measures more
commonly resorted to by them than the other ract-6. There were so few attacks among the
two Ituliau e mmunities—the Muhammadans and Hindus—that it would not be fair to
compare the rates of mortality among them with those atnoug the other races.
As regards age, the rates of mortality among the adults and children were much about
th» same, having been in the ratio of Gl per cent, among the former and 60*4 per ceut. among
th;la*.ter. In a sciual point of view, however* the mortality among men (65*4 per cent.)
was by far the largest, that among women having been only 56*2 percent.
Although the nnmber of attacks in the village of Sadab, which is- principally inhabited
by fis-ierah-n' and lower classes of Arabs, was smaller than in some of the other localities, the
mortality in ii was proportionately much higher, giving the-highest ratio of 80 per cent, to
the aiiaikcd. Maknlla, inhabited as it is by poor fishermen from Socotra, with only a few
attack-, gave also a high rate of mortality, namely, 75 per cent, whilst Takia and Tuyan
principally inhabited by Baluchis were neatly alike in the ratio per cent, of mortality,
the f.-rroer having had 67*4 per cent, and the latter 65‘3 per cent. The smallest rate of mor­
tality in proportion to the attacked was in the town of Maskat itself, which may be accounted
t»r partly by the fact of more attacked persons there having Lad recourse to our treatment
than in any other locality and partly by the fact of the people living in it being of a class
in better circumstances and therefore better able to command the necessary attendance and
comfort.
The ratio per cent, of deaths to attacked in Matrah compares rather favourably with that
in Maskat aod is as near the average rate of
Deaths in Matrah. cholera mortality as it can be. There were in all
452 deaths giving a ratio per cent oE 50*7 to attacked nguinst 274 deaths and a ratio per cent,
of Gl in Ma*dcat It is not e;»6y to ncoount satisfactorily for this great difference in tbo rate3
of mortality in the two places, situat'd as they are sc close to each other, and I can only
sugoest in explanation the circumstance of the epidemic taken as a whole having begun and
ended in Matrah. It is a well-known fact that during the commencement and decline of an
epidemic of cholera particularly the latter cases often recover even without any treatment.
Besides, although the hygienic conditions in 6omc of the localities, particularly in the suburbs,
in both the plawa are very much alike, Matrah being much opener has the advantage over
Maskat of obtaining more benefit from two of nature^ greatest disinfectants—light and heat.
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