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5ATARA DISTRICT.
Area ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 4,987 sq. miles.
Population in 1891 ... ... ... ... 1,225,989.
Density of population ... ... ... 245.84 per sq. mile.
Rainfall ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Average 50 inches.
Boundaries.
Stra is bounded on the north by the States of Bhor and Phaltan, and beyond them
by Poona ; on the east by Sholpur and the Jath State ; on
the south by Belgaum and Kolhpur ; and on the west by the
Kolba and Ratngiri District.
Climate and natural features.
In the west water is fairly abundant. In the east, hot weather after hot weather, and
want of water causes much suffering. The supply comes partly
from rivers and streams, partly from reservoirs, and partly
from wells, which are numerous, but in many cases run dry during the hot season. The
Stra climate is a marked change from the moist and relaxing Konkan. It is liable to
aggravate fever and render it more acute by contracting the surface vessels and forcing
inwards an increased flow of blood. The adverse condition is limited to the dry season,
or at least is considerably modified during the soft mild and damp south-west monsoon.
The soils of the District belong to three main classes, red in the hills and black and
light-coloured in the plains. The soil of the Krishna valley is especially rich.
About thirty-three miles north-west of Stra, is Mahbaleshvar, the chief sanitarium of
the Bombay Presidency.
Previous epidemics. There is no previous authentic record of plague in Stra.*
Stra District.
Population-225,989.
First Epidemic (October 1896-June 1897).-The Stra District, one of the earliest
attacked in the whole Presidency, fell a prey to plague while it
was yet suffering from a famine of great severity. Imported
plague was reported in the District as early as October 1896,
during which month 4 cases (all fatal) occurred. These were followed by 25 cases-
21 deaths-in the month of November 1896. But only in a few instances did these cases
communicate infection, though precautions of any kind were almost wholly absent. Thus
in January and February 1897, indigenous plague broke out in the villages of Sangwi
(Koregaon Tluka) and Akhade, Waluth, Panas and Khadshi (Joli Tluka), the infection
having been imported from Bombay. Of these places, Sangwi, Akhade and Waluth suffered
somewhat severely : but the villagers camped in the fields of their own accord, and the
plague died out in a short time. A few more cases were imported in March and in the first
week of April 1897.
No more was heard of plague in the District until it broke out at Kard in July with
terrible severity : and with the above cases, therefore, the epidemic in the Stra District
may be said to end: The figures were as follows :-
"Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. XIX.
61