Persian Gulf Administration Reports 1883/84 - 1904/05 [‎226r] (456/602)

RESIDENCY An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. AND MASKAT POLITICAL AGENCY An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. FOR THE YEAR 1899-1900. 25
,1 pass. The locality shown in the statement No. Ill as Makalla is the small cove
•th harbour,*on which is situated the Coal Dep6t belonging to the British Government; it
••h bfted at certain seasons by a colony of the people of Socotra, who periodically visit
M 1 k t for the purpose of fishing. I have shown all the suburban localities, though
us only under two general names, Takia and Tuyan, which are the two natural
nomero^ ^ ^ suburban area, all the places of minor importance in their vicinity being
luded under one or the other of these two divisions. The population of the whole of this
oTMaskat area may be roughly estimated at about 10,000 persons.
The hamlet of Riyam, which stands on the road from Maskatto Matrah, being nearer
the latter town, is included under it. Mateireh, or
Localities included under -Matrah. email Matrah, is a hamlet quite close to Matrah and
av be looked upon as a part of it, whilst Arbak, which is situated in the direction opposite to
Mateireh may be looked upon as the other extremity of the town of Matrah. The village
of Darseit and the hamlets of Shietifee and Falaj in the immediate vicinity of Matrah are
ghown by their proper names. As in Maskat several localities forming the suburban area
have distinctive names, but I have included them all under the two general names of Jabru
and Tuyan, the former being the northern suburb and the latter the southern one, the two
beino- separated by a high projecting hill which forms a natural barrier between them.
Tbe population of all these places included under Matrah may be roughly estimated
to be about 15,000.
As regards Maskat and Matrah the epidemic set in so slowly and insidiously as hardly
0 .j • to arouse any suspicion at first; in fact so gradual
Nature and characters of the epidemic. waS ^ development that its very existence was
for some time doubted and denied by the local authorities. Its slow origin is all the more
remarkable as in its subsequent advance through the interior of Oman it broke out in many
of the places suddenly and with great violence. The individual attacks, however, were
even in the early stage of the epidemic mostly sudden and unpreceded by any preliminary
diarrhoea.
Owing to the difficulty of fixing the date of the first case, it^ would be safer
in my opinion to allow at least two weeks for the existence of the disease before the
occurrence of the first case which came to my notice; counting, therefore, from that time,
the epidemic may be considered to have extended over a period of five ^ ont ' :is - . Ju dgmg by
the mortality as recorded at the time, it attained its maximum m Matrah m about five
weeks and in Maskat between four and five weeks from its commencement. Ihe period ot
decline, however, differed greatly in the two places; in Maskat the decline commenced m
about a week from the maximum period and continued steadily till the disease finally dis
appeared. Matrah, however, was situated differently, for being in direct communication
with the interior and the north-western coast, where the disease was then prevailing, it was
more exposed to fresh sources of infection, so that the epidemic was not only later in entering
upon its final stage, but there was also a recrudescence of it about the end of November,
which lasted through the whole of December, the final decline not being reached till the
middle of January; the total duration of the epidemic in Matrah was thus nve mont s.
The epidemic was characterized especially at its commencement by the occurrence of
cases in which the illness set in acutely without any previous warning, and though
the premonitory diarrhcea was absent in most of them the subsequen a gi e s a^e was
neither rapid in its supervention nor very severe in its nature. As the epi
advanced, there was a greater preponderance of cases in which profuse evacua io 0 , . ,
by early collapse formed an important feature of it. In the majority of eases in which
collapse was a* prominent symptom, its duration was generally short, being on y ,
but instances of prolonged collapse, though not common, were 6 •
such cases came under observation and are remarkable in the fact of eir i f nr
recovery. The first one was that of an African boy who was admitte m o ^-i f
a severe attack of broncho-pneumonia resulting from influenza; he a jus
the severer symptoms of that disease and was scarcely strong enoug o si up
he was suddenly attacked with cholera. The state of collapse wh}ch fol^
rapid in its supervention, was complete at first and only gradually yield xVinia 'woman
it lasted for nearly three days. The other case was that of a young pregnan , 3 , ,
at the full period of pregnancy in tbe Khqja fort at Matrah; the illness se £ i i
the premonitory diarrhcea on the 8th of November which lasted for near y ,
the choleraic symptoms became pronounced on the 9th, collapse se in rap hnwpv^r
third day of Se disease, that is, on the 11th, while yet state ;f; 0n ^; "Ited ZL o;.
was not then of an extreme degree, she gave birth to a still-born chi .
less in a state of collapse till the l^th of November and eventually recovered.
Of the other symptoms characteristic of this stage of the disease ^eat
and cramps in the extremities were neither common nor very severe P amon<? the
and a sense of burning in the stomach were more common and constant among the
symptoms.
The reactionary or febrile stage was mostly of a mild character and d e ^mv
entirely absent in some of the cases. The temperature among the cases fiom^licoted
personal observation was, as a rule, not high, bnt in two o£ the cases which were .»mphcated
with cerebral meningitis and which ended fatally it continued to be g & »