Page:Short account of the origin and progress of the cholera morbus.pdf/4

 From the Delta of the Ganges, it extended itself in a few months after its first, irruption, along the eastern coast of the Gulf of Bengal, and from Arracan, which it entered in 1819, it proceeded gradually to the Peninsula of Malacca. Forty thousand persons perished at Bankok,. the capital of Siam. 1823, the Birman empire was attacked, as were also afterwards Sumatra and the Philipine Islands.

In Muscat, a sea-port at the extremity of the Arabian Peninsula, and the most frequented harbour for the traffic of Bombay, the Cholera broke out in July, 1821, and soon exterminated 10,000 persons. In August following it had penetrated the Persian Gulf, and along the Arabian shore, Here its desolation was excessive.

The port of Bendar Abassi, the key to the interior of Persia, was invaded by the Cholera, July, 1821, and one-sixth part of the inhabitants were its victims. At Shiraz it destroyed one-eighth of the population, and proceeding northward, visited Ispahan. Having reached Taurus it extended to Armenia.

From this period till 1823, the disease infected the places north of Persia, and in September, 1823, it entered Astrachan, on the north of the Caspian. The Russian fleet was first infected, and out of 216 persons, 144 died!

The progress of this epidemic into Syria and Mesopotamia is marked by increased calamity. At Bassorah 18,000 persons were swept away in eleven days! and at Bagdad, one-third of the people perished! After visiting many other places, it reached Aleppo in November, 1822, and for three days destroyed 300 daily. In June following it extended to Latachia and Antioch, and thence to Tripoli and Suedia. The following affecting circumstance, related by Mr. Barker, the British consul, will convey some idea of its violence:--"Twenty peasants of Suedia, robust, vigorous, and in the flower of life, were labouring at the harvest work, when, on July 9, at noon, one was suddenly attacked, and the others, in a short time, showed symptoms of the disorder. In three hours the entire band was exhausted; before sunset many had ceased to live, and by the return of the following day, there were no survivors!!"

During the year 1823, in the short period of seven months,