I believe my good native friend was right, for I have actually seen ordinary vaccination eagerly sought for by Orientals over whom we had no shadow of political control, and who would have been up in arms at the idea of compulsion; through the simple stimulus of the nominal fee system. As a matter of fact, there are few things that the Indian cannot be persuaded to do by a tactful European official who has been allowed to remain sufficiently long in a locality to become known and trusted by the people among whom he has to work; but the notion of utilising the personal factor in administration is, unfortunately, far from the Indian bureaucracy, and the theory of one man being as good as another for any purpose has been adopted to such an extent, that combatant magnates were actually selected to control the operations of the medical experts in dealing with plague. The attack on the plague bacilli with so tactless a weapon as the bayonet naturally failed, but we certainly secured a striking and no doubt valuable demonstration of “how not to do it.” The opportunities that should be placed at the disposal of the population may be epitomised as follows:-- (1) _Evacuation._--The truth of the old proverb as to the policy of “running away,” is illustrated in the case of plague, if possible, even more forcibly than in that of the late Boer war, and as the population, like the warlike Boer, should always have a new position ready to fall back on, a certain number of huts should be set up in the open for the accommodation of those who are wise enough to take Nature’s hint in good time, and to leave the germs of infection behind them to “stew in their own juice” till they die for want of material. The ruder these structures are made the better, it being essential that they should cost so little that they can be burned without regret should they become infected; and hence nothing beyond the provision of shelter against the sun and rain should be aimed at. In the case of village communities, complete evacuation of an infected site is generally possible, but in towns of any size such a plan may be out of the question. A small camp should, however, be provided for the accommodation of such as are wise enough to avail themselves of it. Where, as is the case with tea-garden and mine managers, the European superintendent for all practical purposes constitutes the government on the spot for the time being, the policy of instant evacuation of “the lines” wherever a case of plague has appeared cannot be too strongly insisted upon. Even when left to themselves, the germs have a strong tendency to die out in the course of a few weeks; and aided as it can be by systematic disinfection of the inhabited site, there can be no doubt that this policy of flight is the sheet anchor of our armament for meeting the disease.