.......
226
opposite the Consulate of Her Majesty's Ship "Rattler" prevented an outbreak which on the 12th and 13th
June seemed very likely.
History of the Plague in these parts.
Without touching the curious enquiry how far the many different types of the plague observed here in the last three months enable us to identify with this disease the great plagues of history be- ginning with the one that "smote both man and beast" in Egypt it will suffice to say that this plague ap- peared in the Province of Yun-nan during the Mohamme- dan Rebellion 1856-1873 The writer of this report
+
is probably the last European traveller who has traversed from West to East the District in which this plague is endemic, namely Lin-an Fu to Kwang-nan Fu in the Province of Yun-nan Lat. 23.30' Long. 102° 30′ to 105° E altitude 4,000-5,000 ft above the sea. This was in February 1886. The plague had been raging in the above district in the previous June and July, He wrote "the rats gave warning for they tumbled about
and died in the streets; domestic animals had not
suffered many people had moved out at once on to the
Hills and had lived in huts of reeds and grass. The
attack began with violent head-ache fever and black
tongue; hard lumps arise at the glands, death ensues
sometimes
+ See Babers' Through Western Yunnan page 178. R. Geographical Society Supplementary Papers Vol. I. Rocher's Yunnan Paris E.Leroux Vol. II. page 279.
See Parl. Papers China No. 1 (1888) Report by F.S.A. Bourne of a Journey in South Western China.