By the President of the United States of America

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas an International Sanitary Convention was concluded and signed on December 3, 1903, by the Plenipotentiaries of the United States of America, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Brazil, Spain, France, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Luxemburg, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Servia, Switzerland, [Page 435] and Egypt, the original of which Convention, in the French language is word for word as follows:

[Translation.]

His Majesty the Emperor of Germany, King of Prussia, in the name of the German Empire; His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, and Apostolic King of Hungary, etc.; His Majesty the King of the Belgians; the President of the Republic of the United States of Brazil; His Majesty the King of Spain; the President of the United States of America; the President of the French Republic; His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of British territories beyond the seas, and Emperor of India; His Majesty the King of the Hellenes; His Majesty the King of Italy; His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Luxemburg; His Royal Highness the Prince of Montenegro; Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands; His Majesty the Shah of Persia; His Majesty the King of Portugal and of the Algarves; His Majesty the King of Roumania; His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias; His Majesty the King of Servia; the Swiss Federal Council, and His Highness the Khedive of Egypt, acting within the limits of the powers conferred upon him by the imperial firmans,

Having deemed it expedient to establish in a single arrangement the measures calculated to safeguard the public health against the invasion and propagation of plague and cholera, and desiring to revise and supplement the international sanitary conventions at present in force, have appointed as their plenipotentiaries, to wit:

  • His Majesty the Emperor of Germany, King of Prussia,
  • Count de Groeben, Counselor of Legation and First Secretary in the Imperial Embassy of Germany at Paris;
  • M. Bumm, Superior Privy Government Counselor, Member of the Board of Health of the Empire;
  • Doctor Gaffky, Privy Medical Counselor of the Grand Duchy of Hesse and Professor at the University of Giessen, Member of the Board of Health of the Empire;
  • Doctor Nocht, Physician of the Port of Hamburg, Member of the Board of Health of the Empire;
  • His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, etc., etc., and Apostolic King of Hungary,
  • M. le Chevalier Alexandre de Suzzara, Chief of Section in the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Commander of the Order of Francis Joseph, Third-class Knight of the Order of the Iron Crown;
  • M. Noël Ebner d’Ebenthal, President of the Imperial and Royal Maritime Department at Triest, Knight of the Orders of Leopold and Francis Joseph;
  • M. Jospeh Daimer, Counselor in the Imperial and Royal Ministry of the Interior, Third-class Knight of the Order of the Iron Crown, Knight of the Order of Francis Joseph;
  • M. Kornel Chyzer, Counselor in the Hungarian Ministry of the Interior, Knight of the Orders of Leopold and Francis Joseph;
  • M. Ernest Roediger, Counselor of Section;
  • His Majesty the King of the Belgians,
  • M. Beco, Chief Clerk of the Ministry of Agriculture, in charge of the general direction of the public health and hygienic service, Commander [Page 436] of the Order of Leopold, decorated with the Civic Cross of the third class;
  • The President of the Republic of the United States of Brazil,
  • M. G. de Piza, his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary near the President of the French Republic; His Majesty the King of Spain,
  • M. Fernand Jordan de Urries y Ruiz de Arana, Marquis de Novallas, Chamberlain of His Majesty, First Secretary of the Royal Embassy of Spain at Paris, Commander of the Order of Charles III;
  • The President of the United States of America,
  • Dr. H. D. Geddings, Assistant Surgeon General of the Medical Service and of the Marine Hospital;
  • Mr. Frank Anderson, Medical Inspector of the Navy;
  • The President of the French Republic,
  • M. Camille Barrère, Ambassador of the French Republic near H. M. the King of Italy, Grand Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honor;
  • M. Georges Louis, Minister Plenipotentiary of the 1st class, Director of Consulates and Commercial Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honor;
  • Professor Brouardel, Honorary Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, President of the Advisory Board on Public Hygiene of France, member of the Institute and of the Academy of Medicine, Grand Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honor;
  • M. Henri Monod, Counselor of State, Director of Public Assistance and Hygiene in the Ministry of the Interior, member of the Academy of Medicine, Commander of the National Order of the Legion of Honor;
  • Doctor fimile Roux, Subdirector of the Pasteur Institute, Vice President of the Advisory Board of Public Hygiene of France, member of the Academy of Sciences and of the Academy of Medicine, Comander of the National Order of the Legion of Honor;
  • M. Jacques de Cazotte, Subdirector of Consular Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honor;
  • His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Territories beyond the Seas, Emperor of India,
  • Mr. Maurice William Ernest de Bunsen, Minister Plenipotentiary, acting as First Secretary of the Royal British Embassy at Paris, Comander of the Royal Order of Victoria, Companion of the Order of the Bath;
  • Dr. Theodore Thomson, of the Local Government Board;
  • Dr. Frank Gerard Clemow, Delegate of Great Britain to the Superior Board of Health of Constantinople;
  • Mr. Arthur David Alban, Consul of His Britannic Majesty at Cairo;
  • His Majesty the King of the Hellenes,
  • M. Delyanni, His Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary near the President of the French Republic, Grand Commander of the Royal Order of the Savior;
  • Doctor S. Clado, physician of the Royal Greek Legation at Paris;
  • His Majesty the King of Italy,
  • Commander Rocco Santoliquido, Director General of Public Health of Italy;
  • Marquis Paulucci de’ Calboli, Counselor at the Royal Embassy of Italy at Paris;
  • M. le Chevalier Adolphe Cotta, Chief of the Bureau of General Affairs under the General Bureau of Public Health of Italy;
  • His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Luxemburg,
  • M. Vannerus, Chargé d’Affaires of Luxemburg at Paris;
  • His Royal Highness the Prince of Montenegro,
  • M. le Chevalier Alexandre de Suzzara, Chief of Section in the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Austria-Hungary, Commander of the Order of Francis Joseph, Third-class Knight of the Order of the Iron Crown;
  • Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands,
  • Baron W. B. R. de Welderen Rengers, Counselor of the Royal Legation of the Netherlands at Paris;
  • Doctor W. P. Ruijsch, Inspector General of the Sanitary Service in South Holland and Zealand, member of the Superior Board of Hygiene;
  • Doctor C. Stekoulis, delegate of the Netherlands to the Superior Board of Health of Constantinople;
  • M. A. Plate, President of the Chamber of Commerce of Rotterdam, extraordinary member of the Superior Board of Hygiene;
  • His Majesty the Shah of Persia,
  • General Nazare Aga Yemines-Saltané, his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary near the President of the French Republic, possessor of the portrait of the Shah in diamonds, Grand Cordon of the Order of the Lion and of the Sun in diamonds;
  • His Majesty the King of Portugal and the Algarves,
  • Doctor Josè Joaquim da Silva Amado, of His Very Faithful Majesty’s Council, professor in the Institute of Hygiene of Lisbon, Vice President of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Commander of the Order of Saint James;
  • His Majesty the King of Roumania,
  • M. Grégoire G. Ghika, his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary near the President of the French Republic, Grand Officer of the Order of the Star of Roumania, Grand Officer of the Order of the Roumanian Crown;
  • Doctor Jean Cantacuzene, member of the Superior Board of Health of Roumania:
  • His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias,
  • M. Platon de Waxel, Actual Counselor of State, Grand Cordon of the Order of Saint Stanislaus;
  • His Majesty the King of Servia,
  • Doctor Michel Popovitch, chargé d’affaires of Servia at Paris;
  • The Swiss Federal Council,
  • M. Charles Edouard Lardy, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the Swiss Confederation near the President of the French Republic;
  • Doctor F. Schmid, Director of the Federal Health Bureau;
  • And His Highness the Khedive of Egypt,
  • Mohamed Chérif Pacha, Assistant Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Grand Cordon of the Order of the Medjidie, grand Officer of the Order of the Osmanie;
  • Doctor Marc Armand Buffer, President of the Sanitary, Maritime, and Quarantine Board of Egypt, Grand Officer of the Orders of the Osmanie and the Medjidie;

Who, having exchanged their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed to the following provisions:

Title I.—General provisions.

Chapter I.Rules to be observed by the countries signing the convention as soon as plague or cholera appears in their territory.

Section I.Notification and subsequent communications to the other countries.

Article 1. Each government shall immediately notify the other governments of the first appearance in its territory of authentic cases of plague or cholera.

Article 2. This notification shall be accompanied, or very promptly followed, by particulars regarding:

1.
The neighborhood in which the disease has appeared.
2.
The date of its appearance, its origin, and its form.
3.
The number of established cases and the number of deaths.
4.
In case of plague: The existence of plague or of an unusual mortality among rats and mice.
5.
The measures immediately taken following this first appearance.

Article 3. The notification and particulars contemplated in Articles 1 and 2 shall be sent to the diplomatic or consular offices in the capital of the infected country.

In the case of countries not represented there, they shall be transmitted directly by telegraph to the governments of such countries.

Article 4. The notification and particulars contemplated in Articles 1 and 2 shall be followed by further communications sent regularly so as to keep the governments informed of the progress of the epidemic.

These communications, which shall be sent at least once a week and shall be as complete as possible, shall indicate more particularly the precautions taken to prevent the spread of the disease.

They shall specify: 1 The prophylactic measures applied with regard to sanitary or medical inspection, to isolation, and to disinfection; 2 the measures enforced upon the departure of vessels to prevent the exportation of the disease, and especially, in the case contemplated under No. 4 of Article 2 above, the measures taken against rats.

Article 5. The prompt and faithful execution of the foregoing provisions is of prime importance.

The notifications are of no real value unless each government is itself opportunely informed of cases of plague and cholera and of doubtful cases occurring in its territory. It can not therefore be too strongly recommended to the various governments that they make compulsory the announcement of cases of plague and cholera and that they keep themselves informed of any unusual mortality among rats and mice, especially in ports.

Article 6. It is understood that neighboring countries reserve the right to make special arrangements with a view to organizing a service of direct information among the heads of frontier departments.

[Page 439]

Section II.Conditions which warrant the consideration of a territorial area as being contaminated or as having again become healthy.

Article 7. The notification of a single case of plague or cholera shall not involve the application, against the territorial area in which it has occurred, of the measures prescribed in Chapter II herein-below.

However, when several unimported cases of plague have appeared or when the cholera cases become localized, the area shall be declared contaminated.

Article 8. In order to limit the measures to the stricken regions alone, the governments shall only apply them to arrivals from the contaminated areas.

By the word area is meant a portion of territory definitely specified in the particulars which accompany or follow the notification; for instance, a province, a government, a district, a department, a canton, an island, a commune, a city, a quarter of a city, a village, a port, a polder, a hamlet, etc., whatever be the area and population of these portions of territory.

However, this restriction to the contaminated area shall only be accepted upon the formal condition that the government of the contaminated country take the necessary measures 1 to prevent the exportation of the articles enumerated under Nos. 1 and 2 of Article 12 and coming from the contaminated area, unless they are previously disinfected, and 2 to combat the spread of the epidemic.

When an area is contaminated, no restrictive measure shall be taken against arrivals from such area if such arrivals have left it at least five days before the beginning of the epidemic.

Article 9. In order that an area may be considered as being no longer contaminated, it must be officially ascertained:

1.
That there has been neither a death nor a new case of plague or cholera within five days after the isolation,a death, or cure of the last plague or cholera patient.
2.
That all the measures of disinfection have been applied, and, in the case of plague, that the measures against rats have been executed.

Chapter II.Measures of defense by other countries against territories declared to be contaminated.

Section I.Publication of the prescribed measures.

Article 10. The government of each country is obliged to immediately publish the measures which it believes necessary to prescribe with regard to arrivals from a contaminated country or territorial area.

It shall at once communicate this publication to the diplomatic or consular officer of the contaminated country residing in its capital, as well as to the international boards of health.

It shall likewise be obliged to make known through the same channels the revocation of these measures or any modifications which may be made therein.

[Page 440]

In default of a diplomatic or consular office in the capital, the communications shall be made directly to the government of the country concerned.

Section II.—Merchandise—Disinfection—Importation and Transit—Baggage.

Article 11. No merchandise is capable by itself of transmitting plague or cholera. It only becomes dangerous when contaminated by plague or cholera products.

Article 12. Disinfection shall only be applied to merchandise and articles which the local health authority considers to be contaminated.

However, the merchandise or articles enumerated below may be subjected to disinfection or even prohibited entry independently of any proof that they are or are not contaminated:

1. Body linen, clothing worn (wearing apparel), and bedding which has been used.

When these articles are being transported as baggage or as a result of a change of residence (household goods), they shall not be prohibited and are subject to the provisions of Article 19.

Packages left by soldiers and sailors and returned to their country after death are treated the same as the articles comprised in the first paragraph of No. 1.

2. Rags (including those for making paper), with the exception, as to cholera, of compressed rags transported as wholesale merchandise in hooped bales.

Fresh waste coming directly from spinning mills, weaving mills, manufactories, or bleacheries; artificial wools (shoddy), and fresh paper trimmings shall not be forbidden.

Article 13. The transit of the merchandise and articles specified under Nos. 1 and 2 of the preceding article shall not be prohibited if they are so packed that they can not be manipulated en route.

Likewise, when the merchandise or articles are transported in such a manner that it is impossible for them to have been in contact with contaminated articles en route, their transit across an infected territorial area shall not constitute an obstacle to their entry into the country of destination.

Article 14. The merchandise and articles specified under Nos. 1 and 2 of Article 12 shall not be subject to the application of the measures prohibiting entry if it is proven to the authorities of the country of destination that they were shipped at least five days before the beginning of the epidemic.

Article 15. The mode and place of disinfection, as well as the methods to be employed for the destruction of rats, shall be determined by the authorities of the country of destination. These operations should be performed in such a manner as to cause the least possible injury to the articles.

It shall devolve upon each Nation to determine the question as to the possible payment of damages as a result of disinfection or of the destruction of rats.

If, on the occasion of the taking of measures for the destruction of rats on board vessels, the health authorities should levy a tax either directly or through a society or private individual, the rate of such [Page 441] tax must be fixed by a tariff published in advance and so calculated that no profit shall be derived by the Nation or the Health Department from its application as a whole.

Article 16. Letters and correspondence, printed matter, books, newspapers, business papers, etc. (parcels post not included) shall not be subjected to any restriction or disinfection.

Article 17. Merchandise, arriving by land or by sea, shall not be detained at frontiers or in ports.

The only measures which it is permissible to prescribe with regard to them are specified in Article 12 hereinabove.

However, if merchandise arriving by sea in bulk or in defective bales has been contaminated during the passage by rats known to be stricken with plague, and if it can not be disinfected, the destruction of the germs may be insured by storing it in a warehouse for a maximum period of two weeks.

It is understood that the application of this last measure shall not entail any delay upon the vessel or any extra expense as a result of the lack of warehouses in the ports.

Article 18. When merchandise has been disinfected by applying the provisions of Article 12, or temporarily warehoused in accordance with the third paragraph of Article 17, the owner or his representative shall be entitled to demand from the health authority who has ordered the disinfection or storage, a certificate setting forth the measures taken.

Article 19. Baggage.—The disinfection of the soiled linen, wearing apparel, and articles of baggage or furniture (household goods) coming from a territorial area declared to be contaminated shall only take place in cases when the health authority considers them to be contaminated.

Section III.—Measures in ports and at maritime frontiers.

Article 20. Classification of vessels.—A vessel is considered as infected which has plague or cholera on board, or which has presented one or more cases of plague or cholera within seven days.

A vessel is considered as suspicious on board of which there were cases of plague or cholera at the time of departure or have been during the voyage, but on which there have been no new cases within seven days.

A vessel is considered as uninfected which, although coming from an infected port, has had neither death nor any case of plague or cholera on board either before departure, during the voyage, or at the time of arrival.

Article 21. Ships infected with plague shall be subjected to the following measures:

1.
Medical inspection.
2.
The patients shall be immediately landed and isolated.
3.
The other persons shall also be landed, if possible, and subjected, from the date of their arrival, either to an observationa which shall not exceed five days and may be followed or not by a surveillancea [Page 442] of five days at most, or simply to a surveillance not to exceed ten days.
It is within the discretion of the health authority of the port to apply whichever of these measures appears preferable to him according to the date of the last case, the condition of the vessel, and the local possibilities.
4.
The soiled linen, wearing apparel, and other articles of the crewb and passengers which are considered by the health authority as being contaminated shall be disinfected.
5.
The parts of the vessel which have been occupied by persons stricken with plague or which are considered by the health authority as being contaminated shall be disinfected.
6.
The destruction of the rats on the vessel shall take place before or after the discharge of the cargo as rapidly as possible, and at all events within a maximum period of forty-eight hours, avoiding injury to the cargo, the plating, and the engines.

In the case of vessels in ballast, this operation shall be performed as soon as possible before taking on cargo.

Article 22. Vessels suspected of plague shall be subjected to the measures indicated under Nos. 1, 4, and 5 of Article 21.

Moreover, the crew and passengers may be subjected to a surveillance not to exceed five days from the arrival of the vessel. The landing of the crew may be forbidden during the same period except in connection with the service.

It is recommended that the rats on the vessel be destroyed. This destruction should be effected before or after the discharge of cargo as rapidly as possible, and at all events within a maximum period of forty-eight hours, avoiding injury to the merchandise, plating, and engines.

In case of vessels in ballast, this operation shall be performed, if there is occasion for it, as soon as possible and at all events before taking on cargo.

Article 23. Vessels uninfected with plague shall be granted pratique immediately, whatever be the nature of their bill of health.

The only measures which the authority of the port of arrival may prescribe with regard to them shall be the following:

1.
Medical inspection.
2.
Disinfection of the soiled linen, wearing apparel, and other articles of the crew and passengers, but only in exceptional cases when the health authority has special reason to believe that they are contaminated.
3.
Although not to be adopted as a general rule, the health authority may subject vessels coming from a contaminated port to an operation designed to destroy the rats on board, either before or after the discharge of the cargo. This operation should take place as soon as possible and should not in any event last more than twenty-four [Page 443] hours, avoiding injury to the cargo, plating, and engines, and avoiding hindrance to the movement of the passengers and crew between the vessel and the shore. In case of vessels in ballast, this operation, if there is occasion for it, should take place as soon as possible and at all events before taking on cargo.

When a vessel hailing from a contaminated port has been subjected to an operation for the destruction of rats, this operation shall not be repeated unless the vessel has stopped and moored at a wharf in a contaminated port, or unless the presence of dead or diseased rats is discovered on board.

The crew and passengers may be subjected to a surveillance not to exceed five days from the date on which the vessel left the contaminated port. The landing of the crew may also be forbidden during the same time except in connection with the service.

The competent authority of the port of arrival may always demand an affidavit from the ship’s physician, or in default of such physician, from the captain, to the effect that there has not been a case of plague on the vessel since its departure and that no unusual mortality among the rats has been observed.

Article 24. When rats have been recognized as plague-stricken on board an uninfected vessel as a result of a bacteriological examination, or when an unusual mortality has been discovered among these rodents, the following measures shall be applied:

I.
Vessels with plague-stricken rats:
(a)
Medical inspection.
(b)
The rats shall be destroyed either before or after the discharge of the cargo as rapidly as possible and at all events within a maximum period of forty-eight hours, avoiding injury to the cargo, plating, and engines. On vessels in ballast this operation shall be performed as soon as possible and at all events before taking on cargo.
(c)
The parts of the vessel and the articles which the health authority considers to be contaminated shall be disinfected.
(d)
The passengers and crew may be subjected to a surveillance whose duration shall not exceed five days from the date of arrival, save exceptional cases, in which the health authority may prolong the surveillance to a maximum of ten days.
II.
Vessels on which an unusual mortality among rats is discovered:
(a)
Medical inspection.
(b)
An examination of the rats with regard to the plague shall be made as far and as quickly as possible.
(c)
If the destruction of the rats is deemed necessary, it shall take place under the conditions indicated above for vessels with plague-stricken rats.
(d)
Until all suspicion is removed, the passengers and the crew may be subjected to a surveillance whose duration shall not exceed five days from the date of arrival, save exceptional cases, in which the health authority may prolong the surveillance to a maximum of ten days.

Article 25. The health authority of the port shall deliver to the captain or to the shipowner or his agent, whenever demanded, a certificate to the effect that the measures for the destruction of rats have been applied and stating the reasons for their application.

[Page 444]

Article 26. Vessels infected with cholera shall be subjected to the following measures:

1.
Medical inspection.
2.
The patients shall be immediately landed and isolated.
3.
The other persons shall likewise be landed, if possible, and subjected, from the date of arrival of the vessel, to an observation or a surveillance whose duration shall vary according to the sanitary condition of the vessel and the date of the last case, without, however, exceeding five days.
4.
The soiled linen, wearing apparel, and other articles of the crew and passengers which are considered by the health authority of the port as being contaminated shall be disinfected.
5.
The parts of the vessel which have been occupied by cholera patients or which are considered by the health authority as being contaminated shall be disinfected.
6.
The bilge-water shall be discharged after disinfection.

The health authority may order the substitution of good drinking water for that stored on board.

It may be forbidden to throw human excrements or allow them to run into the water of a port unless they are previously disinfected.

Article 27. Vessels suspected of cholera shall be subjected to the measures prescribed under Nos. 1, 4, 5, and 6 of Article 26.

The crew and passengers may be subjected to a surveillance not to exceed five days from the arrival of the vessel. It is recommended that the landing of the crew be prevented during the same period except for purposes connected with the service.

Article 28. Vessels uninfected with cholera shall be granted pratique immediately, whatever be the nature of their bill of health.

The only measures to which they may be subjected by the health authority of the port of arrival shall be those provided under Nos. 1, 4, and 6 of Article 26.

With regard to the state of their health, the crew and passengers may be subjected to a surveillance not to exceed five days from the date on which the vessel left the contaminated port.

It is recommended that the landing of the crew be forbidden during the same period except for purposes connected with the service.

The competent authority of the port of arrival may always demand an affidavit from the ship’s physician or, in the absence of such, from the captain, to the effect that there has not been a case of cholera on board since the vessel sailed.

Article 29. In order to apply the measures indicated in articles 21 to 28, the competent authority shall take account of the presence of a physician and of disinfecting apparatuses (chambers) on board the vessels of the three categories mentioned above.

In regard to plague, he shall likewise take account of the installation on board of apparatus for the destruction of rats.

The health authorities of nations which may deem it suitable to reach an understanding on this point may excuse from the medical inspection and other measures those uninfected vessels which have on board a physician specially commissioned by their country.

Article 30. Special measures may be prescribed in regard to crowded vessels, especially emigrant vessels or any others presenting bad hygienic conditions.

[Page 445]

Article 31. Any vessel not desiring to submit to the obligations imposed by the authority of the port by virtue of the stipulations of the present convention shall be free to put to sea again.

It may be permitted to land its cargo after the necessary precautions have been taken, viz:

1.
Isolation of the vessel, crew, and passengers.
2.
In regard to plague, inquiry as to the existence of an unusual mortality among the rats.
3.
In regard to cholera, the discharge of the bilge-water after disinfection and the substitution of good drinking water for that stored on board the vessel.

It may also be permitted to land passengers who so request, upon condition that they submit to the measures prescribed by the local authority.

Article 32. Vessels hailing from a contaminated port which have been disinfected and subjected to sanitary measures applied in an efficient manner shall not undergo the same measures a second time upon their arrival in a new port provided that no case has appeared since the disinfection took place and that they have not touched at a contaminated port in the meantime.

When a vessel lands only passengers and their baggage, or the mails, without having been in communication with the mainland, it is not to be considered as having touched at the port.

Article 33. Passengers arriving on an infected vessel shall have the right to demand a certificate of the health authority of the port showing the date of their arrival and the measures to which they and their baggage have been subjected.

Article 34. Coasting vessels shall be subjected to special measures to be established by mutual agreement among the countries concerned.

Article 35. Without prejudice to the right which governments possess to agree upon the organization of common sanitary stations, each country shall provide at least one port upon each of its seaboards with an organization and equipment sufficient to receive a vessel, whatever may be its sanitary condition.

When an uninfected vessel hailing from a contaminated port arrives in a large maritime port, it is recommended that she be not sent back to another port for the purpose of-having the prescribed sanitary measures executed.

In every country, ports open to the arrival of vessels from ports infected with plague or cholera shall be equipped in such a manner that uninfected vessels may, immediately upon their arrival, undergo the prescribed measures and not be sent for this purpose to another port.

The governments shall make known the ports which are open in their territories to arrivals from ports infected with plague or cholera.

Article 36. It is recommended that there be established in large maritime ports:

(a)
A regular medical service of the port and a permanent medical surveillance of the sanitary conditions of the crews and the inhabitants of the port.
(b)
Places set apart for the isolation of the sick and the observation of suspected persons.
(c)
The necessary plants for efficient disinfection, and bacteriological laboratories.
(d)
A supply of drinking water beyond suspicion for the use of the port, and a system affording all possible security for the carrying off of refuse and sewage.

Section IV.Measures on land frontiers.—Travelers.—Railroads.—Frontier Zones.—River Routes.

Article 37. Land quarantines shall no longer be established.

Persons showing symptoms of plague or cholera shall alone be detained at frontiers.

This principle shall not bar the right of each Nation to close a part of its frontier in case of necessity.

Article 38. It is important that travelers be subjected to a surveillance on the part of railroad employees with a view to determining the state of their health.

Article 39. Medical interference is limited to an examination of the passengers and the care to be given to the sick. If such an examination is made, it should be combined as far as possible with the custom house inspection to the end that travelers may be detained as short a time as possible. Only persons who are obviously ill shall be subjected to a thorough medical examination.

Article 40. As soon as travelers coming from an infected locality shall have arrived at their destination, it would be of the greatest utility to subject them to a surveillance which should not exceed ten or five days from the date of departure, according to whether it is a question of plague or cholera.

Article 41. The governments reserve the right to take special measures in regard to certain categories of persons, notably gypsies, vagabonds, emigrants, and persons traveling or crossing the frontier in troops.

Article 42. Cars used for the conveyance of passengers, mail, and baggage shall not be detained at frontiers.

If it should happen that one of these cars is contaminated or has been occupied by a plague or cholera patient, it shall be detached from the train and disinfected as soon as possible.

The same rule shall apply to freight cars.

Articles 43. The measures concerning the crossing of frontiers by railroad and postal employees shall be determined by the companies or departments concerned and shall be so arranged as not to hinder the service.

Article 44. The regulation of frontier traffic and questions pertaining thereto, as well as the adoption of exceptional measures of surveillance, shall be left to special arrangements between the contiguous nations.

Article 45. It is the province of the governments of the riparian nations to regulate the sanitary conditions of river routes by means of special arrangements,

[Page 447]

Title II.—Special provisions applicable to countries situated outside of europe.

Chapter I.Arrivals by sea.

Section I.Measures in contaminated ports upon the departure of vessels.

Article 46. It shall be incumbent upon the competent authority to take effectual measures to prevent the embarkation of persons showing symptoms of plague or cholera.

Every person taking passage on board a vessel shall, at the time of embarkation, be examined individually in the daytime on shore, for the necessary length of time, by a physician delegated by the authorities. The consular officer of the nation to which the ship belongs may be present at this examination.

As an exception to this stipulation, the medical examination may take place on shipboard at Alexandria and Port Said, when the local health authority deems it expedient, provided that the third-class passengers shall not be permitted to leave the vessel. This medical examination may be made at night in the case of first and second class passengers, but not of third-class passengers.

Article 47. It shall be incumbent upon the competent authorities to take effectual measures:

1.
To prevent the exportation of merchandise or any articles which they may consider as contaminated and which have not been previously disinfected on shore under the supervision of the physician delegated by the public authorities.
2.
In case of plague, to prevent the access of rats to the vessel.
3.
In case of cholera, to see that the drinking water taken on board is wholesome.

Section II.—Measures with respect to ordinary vessels hailing from contaminated northern ports and appearing at the entrance of the Suez Canal or in Egyptian ports.

Article 48. Ordinary uninfected vessels hailing from a plague or cholera infected port of Europe or the basin of the Mediterranean and presenting themselves for passage through the Suez Canal shall be allowed to pass through in quarantine. They shall continue their route under observation of five days.

Article 49. Ordinary uninfected vessels wishing to make a landing in Egypt may stop at Alexandria or Port Said, where the passengers shall complete the observation period of five days either on shipboard or in a sanitary station, according to the decision of the local health authority.

Article 50. The measures to which infected or suspected vessels shall be subjected which hail from a plague or cholera infected port of Europe or the shores of the Mediterranean, and which desire to effect a landing in one of the Egyptian ports or to pass through the Suez Canal, shall be determined by the Board of Health of Egypt in conformity with the stipulations of the present convention.

The regulations containing these measures shall, in order to become effective, be accepted by the various Powers represented on the [Page 448] Board; they shall determine the measures to which vessels, passengers, and merchandise are to be subjected and shall be presented within the shortest possible period.

Section IIIMeasures in the Red Sea.

a. measures with respect to ordinary vessels hailing from the south and appearing in ports of the red sea or bound toward the mediterranean.

Article 51. Independently of the general provisions contained in Section III, Chapter 2, Title I, concerning the classification of and the measures applicable to infected, suspected, or uninfected vessels, the special provisions contained in the ensuing articles are applicable to ordinary vessels coming from the south and entering the Red Sea.

Article 52. Uninfected vessels must have completed or shall be required to complete an observation period of five full days from the time of their departure from the last infected port.

They shall be allowed to pass through the Suez Canal in quarantine and shall enter the Mediterranean continuing the aforesaid observation period of five days. Ships having a physician and a disinfecting chamber on board shall not undergo disinfection until the passage through in quarantine begins.

Article 53. Suspected vessels shall be treated differently according to whether they have a physician and a disinfecting apparatus (chamber) on board or not.

(a)
Vessels having a physician and a disinfecting apparatus (chamber) on board and fulfilling the necessary conditions shall be permitted to pass through the Suez Canal in quarantine under conditions prescribed by the regulations for the passage through.
(b)
Other suspected vessels having neither physician nor disinfecting apparatus (chamber) on board shall, before being permitted to pass through in quarantine, be detained at Suez or Moses Spring a sufficient length of time to carry out the disinfecting measures prescribed and to ascertain the sanitary condition of the vessel.

In the case of mail vessels or of packets specially utilized for the transportation of passengers and having no disinfecting apparatus (chamber) but having a physician on board, if the local authority is assured by an official declaration that the measures of sanitation and disinfection have been suitably carried out either at the point of departure or during the voyage, the passage through in quarantine shall be allowed.

In the case of mail vessels or of packets specially utilized for the transportation of passengers and having no disinfecting apparatus (chamber) but having a physician on board, if the last case of plague or cholera dates back longer than seven days and if the sanitary condition of the vessel is satisfactory, pratique may be granted at Suez when the operations prescribed by the regulations are completed.

When a vessel has had a run of less than seven days without infection, the passengers destined for Egypt shall be landed at an establishment designated by the Board of Health of Alexandria and isolated a sufficient length of time to complete the observation period of five days. Their soiled linen and wearing apparel shall be disinfected. They shall then receive pratique.

[Page 449]

Vessels having had a run of less than seven days without infection and desiring to obtain pratique in Egypt shall be detained in an establishment designated by the Board of Health of Alexandria for a sufficient length of time to complete the observation period of five days. They shall undergo the measures prescribed for suspected vessels.

When plague or cholera has appeared exclusively among the crew, only the soiled linen of the latter shall be disinfected, but it shall all be disinfected, including that in the living quarters of the crew.

Article 54. Infected vessels are divided into vessels with a physician and a disinfecting apparatus (chamber) on board, and vessels without a physician and a disinfecting apparatus (chamber).

(a) Vessels without a physician and a disinfecting apparatus (chamber) shall be stopped at Moses Spring;a persons showing symptoms of plague or cholera shall be landed and isolated in a hospital. The disinfection shall be carried out in a thorough manner. The other passengers shall be landed and isolated in groups composed of as few persons as possible, so that the whole number may not be infected by a particular group if the plague or cholera should develop. The soiled linen, wearing apparel, and clothing of the crew and passengers, as well as the vessel, shall be disinfected.

It is to be distinctly understood that there shall be no discharge of cargo but simply a disinfection of the part of the vessel which has been infected.

The passengers shall remain for five days in an establishment designated by the Sanitary, Maritime, and Quarantine Board of Egypt. When the cases of plague or cholera date back several days, the length of the isolation shall be diminished. This length shall vary according to the date of the cure, death, or isolation of the last patient. Thus, when the last case of plague or cholera has-terminated six days before by a cure or death, or when the last patient has been isolated for six days, the observation shall last one day; if only five days have elapsed, the observation period shall be two days; if only four days have elapsed, the observation period shall be three days; if only three days have elapsed, the observation period shall be four days; if only two days or one day have elapsed, the observation period shall be five days.

(b) Vessels with a physician and a disinfecting apparatus (chamber) on board shall be stopped at Moses Spring. The ship’s physician must declare, under oath, what persons on board show symptoms of plague or cholera. These patients shall be landed and isolated.

After the landing of these patients, the soiled linen of the rest of the passengers which the health authority may consider as dangerous, as well as that of the crew shall undergo disinfection on board.

When plague or cholera shall have appeared exclusively among the crew, the disinfection of the linen shall be limited to the soiled linen of the crew and the linen of the living apartments of the crew.

The ship’s physician shall indicate also, under oath, the part or compartment of the vessel and the section of the hospital in which the patient or patients have been transported. He shall also declare, [Page 450] under oath, what persons have been in contact with the plague or cholera patient since the first manifestation of the disease, either directly or through contact with objects which might be contaminated. Such persons alone shall be considered as suspects.

The part or compartment of the vessel and the section of the hospital in which the patient or patients shall have been transported shall be thoroughly disinfected. By the “part of the ship” shall be understood the cabin of the patient, the neighboring cabins, the corridor upon which these cabins are located, the deck, and the parts of the deck where the patients may have stayed.

If it is impossible to disinfect the part or compartment of the vessel which has been occupied by the persons stricken with plague or cholera without landing the persons declared as suspects, these persons shall be either placed in another vessel specially designated for this purpose or landed and lodged in the sanitary establishment without coming in contact with the patients, who should be placed in the hospital.

The duration of this stay on the vessel or on shore for disinfection shall be as short as possible and shall not exceed twenty-four hours.

The suspects shall undergo, either on their vessel or on the vessel designated for this purpose, an observation period whose duration shall vary according to the cases and under the conditions provided in the third paragraph of subdivision a.)

The time taken up by the prescribed operations shall be comprised in the duration of the observation period.

The passage through in quarantine may be allowed before the expiration of the periods indicated above if the health authority deems it possible. It shall at all events be granted when the disinfection has been completed, if the vessel leaves behind not only its patients but also the persons indicated above as “suspects.”

A disinfecting chamber placed on a lighter may come alongside the vessel in order to expedite the disinfecting operations.

Infected vessels requesting pratique in Egypt shall be detained at Moses Spring five days; they shall, moreover, undergo the same measures as those adopted for infected vessels arriving in Europe.

b. measures with respect to ordinary vessels hailing from the infected ports of hedjaz during the pilgrimage season.

Article 55. If plague or cholera prevails in Hedjaz during the time of the Mecca pilgrimage, vessels coming from Hedjaz or from any other part of the Arabian coast of the Red Sea without having embarked there any pilgrims or similar masses of persons, and which have not had any suspicious occurrence on board during the voyage, shall be placed in the category of ordinary suspected vessels. They shall be subjected to the preventive measures and to the treatment imposed on such vessels.

If they are bound for Egypt they shall undergo, in a sanitary establishment designated by the Sanitary, Maritime, and Quarantine Board, an observation of five days from the date of departure, for cholera as well as for plague. They shall be subjected, moreover, to all the measures prescribed for suspected vessels (disinfection, etc.), and shall not be granted pratique until they have passed a favorable medical examination.

[Page 451]

It shall be understood that if the vessels have had suspicious occurrences during the voyage, they shall pass the observation period at Moses Spring, which shall last five days whether it be a question of plague or cholera.

Section IV.Organization of the surveillance and of the disinfection at Suez and Moses Spring.

Article 56. The medical inspection prescribed by the regulations shall be made on each vessel arriving at Suez by one or more of the physicians of the station, being made in the daytime on vessels hailing from ports infected with plague or cholera. It may, however, be made at night on vessels which present themselves in order to pass through the canal if they are lighted by electricity and whenever the local health authority is satisfied that the lighting facilities are adequate.

Article 57. The physicians of the Suez station shall be at least seven in number—one chief physician and six others. They must possess a regular diploma and shall be chosen preferably from among physicians who have made special practical studies in epidemiology and bacteriology. They shall be appointed by the Minister of the Interior upon the recommendation of the Sanitary, Maritime, and Quarantine Board of Egypt. They shall receive a salary which shall begin at 8,000 francs and may progressively rise to 12,000 francs for the six physicians, and which shall vary from 12,000 to 15,000 francs for the chief physician.

If the medical service should still prove inadequate, recourse may be had to the surgeons of the navies of the several nations, who shall be placed under the authority of the chief physician of the sanitary station.

Article 58. A corps of sanitary guards shall be intrusted with the surveillance and the execution of the prophylactic measures applied in the Suez Canal, at the establishment at Moses Spring, and at Tor.

Article 59. This corps shall comprise ten guards.

It shall be recruited from among former noncommissioned officers of the European and Egyptian armies and navies.

After their competence has been ascertained by the Board, the guards shall be appointed in the manner provided by Article 14 of the Khedival decree of June 19, 1893.

Article 60. The guards shall be divided into two classes, the first class comprising four guards and the second class comprising six guards.

Article 61. The annual compensation allowed to the guards shall be:

For the first class, from £160 Eg. to £200 Eg.;

For the second class, from £120 Eg. to £168 Eg.;

With a progressive increase until the maximum is reached.

Article 62. The guards shall be invested with the character of officers of the public peace, with the right to call for assistance in case of infractions of the sanitary regulations.

They shall be placed under the immediate orders of the Director of the Suez or the Tor Bureau.

They shall be instructed in all the methods and operations of disinfection in vogue, and must understand the manipulation of the [Page 452] substances and the handling of the instruments employed for this purpose.

Article 63. The disinfection and isolation station of Moses Spring is placed under the authority of the chief physician of Suez.

If patients are landed there, two of the physicians of Suez shall be interned there, one to take care of plague or cholera patients, the other to care for the persons not stricken with plague or cholera.

In case there are plague and cholera patients and other sick at the same time, the number of interned physicians shall be increased to three, one for the plague patients, one for the cholera patients, and the third for those sick with other ailments.

Article 64. The disinfection and isolation station at Moses Spring shall comprise:

1.
Three disinfecting chambers, one being placed on a lighter, and the necessary apparatus for the destruction of rats.
2.
Two isolation hospitals with twelve beds each, one for plague patients and persons suspected of plague, the other for persons stricken with or suspected of cholera. These hospitals shall be so arranged that the patients, the suspects, the men, and the women shall be isolated from one another in each of them.
3.
Huts, hospital tents, and ordinary tents for the landed persons.
4.
Bath tubs and shower baths in sufficient number.
5.
The necessary buildings for the ordinary services, the medical staff, the guards, etc., a store, and a laundry.
6.
A tank of water.
7.
The various buildings shall be so arranged as to render impossible all contact among the patients, the infected or suspicious objects, and the other persons.

Article 65. A machinist shall be specially intrusted with the care of the disinfecting chambers installed at Moses Spring.

Section V.Passage through the Suez Canal in quarantine.

Article 66. The health authority of Suez shall grant the passage through in quarantine, and the Board shall be immediately informed thereof.

In doubtful cases, the decision shall be reached by the Board.

Article 67. As soon as the permit provided for in the preceding Article is granted, a telegram shall be sent to the authority designated by each Power, the dispatch of the telegram being at the expense of the vessel.

Article 68. Each Power shall establish penalties against vessels which abandon the route indicated by the captain and unduly approach one of the ports within its territory, cases of vis major and enforced sojourn being excepted.

Article 69. Upon a vessel’s being spoken, the captain shall be obliged to declare whether he has on board any gangs of native stokers or of wage-earning employees of any description who are not inscribed on the crew list or the register kept for this purpose.

The following questions in particular shall be asked the captains of all vessels arriving at Suez from the south, and shall be answered under oath:

“Have you any helpers (stokers or other workmen) not inscribed on your crew list or on the special register? What is their nationality? Where did you embark them?”

[Page 453]

The sanitary physicians should ascertain the presence of these helpers and if they discover that any of them are missing they should carefully seek the cause of their absence.

Article 70. A health officer and two sanitary guards shall board the vessel and accompany her to Port Said. Their duty shall be to prevent communications and see to the execution of the prescribed measures during the passage through the canal.

Article 71. All embarkations, landings, and transshipments of passengers or cargo are forbidden during the passage through the Suez Canal to Port Said.

However, passengers may embark at Port Said in quarantine.

Article 72. Vessels passing through in quarantine shall make the trip from Suez to Port Said without putting into dock.

In case of stranding or of being compelled to put into dock, the necessary operations shall be performed by the personnel on board, all communication with the employees of the Suez Canal Company being avoided.

Article 73. When troops are conveyed through the canal on suspicious or infected vessels passing through in quarantine, the trip shall be made in the daytime only. If it is necessary to stop at night in the canal, the vessels shall anchor in Lake Timsah or the Great Lake.

Article 74. Vessels passing through in quarantine are forbidden to stop in the harbor of Port Said except in the cases contemplated in articles 71 (paragraph 2) and 75.

The supply and preparation of food on board vessels shall be effected with the means at hand on the vessels.

Stevedores or any other persons who may have gone on board shall be isolated on the quarantine lighter. Their clothing shall there undergo disinfection as per regulations.

Article 75. When it is absolutely necessary for vessels passing through in quarantine to take on coal at Port Said, they shall perform this operation in a locality affording the necessary facilities for isolation and sanitary surveillance, to be selected by the Board of Health. When it is possible to maintain a strict supervision on board the vessel and to prevent all contact with the persons on board, the coaling of the vessel by the workmen of the port may be permitted. At night the place where the coaling is done should be illuminated by electric lights.

Article 76. The pilots, electricians, agents of the Company, and sanitary guards shall be put off at Port Said outside of the port between the jetties and thence conducted directly to the quarantine lighter, where their clothing shall undergo disinfection when deemed necessary.

Article 77. The war vessls hereinafter specified shall enjoy the benefits of the following provisions when passing through the Suez Canal:

They shall be recognized by the quarantine authority as uninfected upon the production of a certificate issued by the physicians on board, countersigned by the commanding officer, and affirming under oath:

a)
That there has not been any case of plague or cholera on board either at the time of departure or during the passage.
b)
That a careful examination of all persons on board, without any exception, has been made less than twelve hours before the arrival in the Egyptian port, and that it revealed no case of these diseases.

[Page 454]

These vessels shall be exempted from the medical examination and immediately receive pratique, provided a period of five full days has elapsed since their departure from the last infected port.

In case the required period has not elapsed, the vessels may pass through the canal in quarantine without undergoing the medical examination, provided they present the above-mentioned certificate to the quarantine autharities.

The quarantine authorities shall nevertheless have the right to cause their agents to perform the medical examination on board war vessels whenever they deem it necessary.

Suspicious or infected war vessels shall be subjected to the regulations in force.

Only fighting units shall be considered as war vessels, transports and hospital ships falling under the category of ordinary vessels.

Article 78. The Maritime and Quarantine Board of Egypt is authorized to organize the transit through Egyptian territory by rail of the mails and ordinary passengers coming from infected countries in quarantine trains, under the conditions set forth in Annex I.

Section VI.Sanitary measures applicable in the Persian Gulf.

Article 79. Vessels shall be spoken at the sanitary establishment of the Island of Ormuz before entering the Persian Gulf. According to their sanitary condition and their port of departure, they shall be subjected to the measures prescribed by Section 3, Chapter 2, Title I.

However, vessels which are to go up the Chat-el-Arab shall, if the observation period is not terminated, be permitted to continue their voyage upon condition of passing through the Persian Gulf and up the Chat-el-Arab in quarantine. A chief guard and two sanitary guards, taken on board at Ormuz, shall watch the vessel as far as Bassorah, where a second medical examination shall be made and the necessary disinfections performed.

Pending the organization of the sanitary station of Ormuz, sanitary guards taken from the provisional post established in accordance with Article 82, paragraph 2, shall accompany the vessels passing in quarantine into the Chat-el-Arab and to the establishment situated in the neighborhood of Bassorah.

Vessels which are to touch at Persian ports in order to land passengers and cargo there may perform these operations at Bender-Bouchir.

It is distinctly understood that a vessel which remains uninfected at the expiration of five days from the date on which it left the last port infected with plague or cholera, shall obtain pratique in the ports of the Gulf after it has been ascertained, upon its arrival, that it is uninfected.

Article 80. Articles 20 to 28 of the present convention are applicable with regard to the classification of the vessels and the measures to be applied to them in the Persian Gulf, with the three following exceptions:

1.
The surveillance of the passengers and crew shall always be superseded by an observation of the same duration.
2.
Uninfected vessels shall only obtain pratique upon condition that five full days have elapsed since the time of their departure from the last infected port.
3.
In regard to suspected vessels the period of five days for the observation of the crew and passengers shall begin as soon as there is no case of plague or cholera on board.

Section VII.Sanitary establishments in the Persian Gulf.

Article 81. Sanitary establishments shall be constructed under the direction of the Board of Health of Constantinople and at its expense, one on the Island of Ormuz and the other in the neighborhood of Bassorah at a place to be determined upon.

At the sanitary station of the Island of Ormuz there shall be at least two physicians, sanitary agents, sanitary guards, and a complete set of appliances for disinfection and the destruction of rats. A small hospital shall be built.

At the station in the neighborhood of Bassorah there shall be constructed a large lazaretto suitable for a medical service composed of several physicians, and apparatus for the disinfection of merchandise.

Article 82. The Superior Board of Health of Constantinople, which has the sanitary establishment of Bassorah under its control, shall exercise the same power over that of Ormuz.

Pending the construction of the sanitary establishment of Ormuz, a sanitary post shall be established there under the direction of the Superior Board of Health of Constantinople.

Chapter II.Arrivals by land.

Section I.General rules.

Article 83. The measures taken on land routes against arrivals from regions infected with plague or cholera shall conform to the sanitary principles formulated by the present convention.

Modern disinfecting methods shall be substituted for land quarantines. To this end disinfecting chambers and other disinfecting appliances shall be installed at well chosen points along the routes followed by travelers.

The same means shall be employed on railroad lines already built or to be built.

Freight shall be disinfected according to the principles of the present convention.

Article 84. Each Government shall be free to close, when necessary, a part of its frontiers against passengers and freight at places where the organization of a sanitary supervision is attended with difficulties.

Section II.Turkish land frontiers.

Article 85. The Superior Board of Health of Constantinople shall, without delay, organize the sanitary establishments of Hanikin and Kisil Dizie, near Bayazid, on the Turko-Persian and Turko-Russian frontiers.

[Page 456]

Title III.Provisions specially applicable to pilgrimages.

Chapter I.—General provisions.

Article 86. The provisions of articles 46 and 47 of Title II are applicable to persons and objects to be embarked on a pilgrim ship sailing from a port of the Indian Ocean and Oceania, even if the port is not infected with plague or cholera.

Article 87. When cases of plague or cholera exist in the port, no embarkation shall be made on pilgrim ships until after the persons, assembled in a group, have been subjected to an observation for the purpose of ascertaining that none of them is stricken with plague or cholera.

It shall be understood that, in executing this measure, each Government may take into account the local circumstances and possibilities.

Article 88. If local circumstances permit, the pilgrims shall be obliged to prove that they possess the means absolutely necessary to complete the pilgrimage, especially a round-trip ticket.

Article 89. Steamships shall alone be permitted to engage in the long-voyage transportation of pilgrims, all other vessels being forbidden to engage in this traffic.

Article 90. Pilgrim ships engaged in coasting trade and used in making the conveyances of short duration called “coasting voyages” shall be subject to the provisions contained in the special regulations applicable to the Hedjaz pilgrimage, which shall be published by the Board of Health of Constantinople in accordance with the principles enounced in the present Convention.

Article 91. A vessel which does not embark a greater proportion of pilgrims of the lowest class than one per hundred tons’ gross burden, in addition to its ordinary passengers (among whom pilgrims of the higher classes may be included), shall not be considered as a pilgrim ship.

Article 92. Every pilgrim ship, upon entering the Red Sea or the Persian Gulf, must conform to the provisions contained in the special regulations applicable to the Hedjaz pilgrimage, which shall be published by the Board of Health of Constantinople in accordance with the principles set forth in the present convention.

Article 93. The captain shall be obliged to pay all the sanitary taxes collectible from the pilgrims, which shall be comprised in the price of the ticket.

Article 94. As far as possible, the pilgrims who land or embark at the sanitary stations should not come in contact with one another at the points of debarkation.

After landing their pilgrims, the vessels shall change their anchorage in order to reembark them.

The pilgrims who are landed shall be sent to the encampment in as small groups as possible.

They must be furnished with good drinking water, whether it is found on the spot or obtained by distillation.

Article 95. When there is plague or cholera in Hedjaz, the provisions carried by the pilgrims shall be destroyed if the health authority deems it necessary.

[Page 457]

Chapter II.Pilgrim ships—Sanitary arrangements.

Section I.General arrangement of vessels.

Article 96. The vessel must be able to lodge pilgrims between decks.

Outside of the crew, the vessel shall furnish to every individual, whatever be his age, a surface of 1.5 square meters (16 English square feet) with a height between decks of about 1.8 meters.

On vessels engaged in coasting trade each pilgrim shall have at his disposal a space of at least 2 meters wide along the gunwales of the vessel.

Article 97. On each side of the vessel, on deck, there shall be reserved a place screened from view and provided with a hand pump so as to furnish sea water for the needs of the pilgrims. One such place shall be reserved exclusively for women.

Article 98. In addition to the water-closets for the use of the crew, the vessel shall be provided with latrines flushed with water or provided with a stop cock, in the proportion of at least one latrine for every 100 persons embarked.

There shall be latrines reserved exclusively for women.

There shall be no water-closets between decks or within the hold.

Article 99. The vessel shall have two places arranged for private cooking by the pilgrims, who shall be forbidden to make a fire elsewhere and especially on deck.

Article 100. An infirmary regularly fitted up and properly arranged with regard to safety and sanitary conditions shall be reserved for lodging the sick.

It must be able to receive at least 5 per cent of the pilgrims embarked, allowing at least 3 square meters per head.

Article 101. The vessel shall be provided with the means of isolating persons who show symptoms of plague or cholera.

Article 102. Every vessel shall have on board the medicines, disinfectants, and articles necessary for the care of the sick. The regulations made for this kind of vessels by each Government shall determine the nature and quantity of the medicines.a The care and the remedies shall be furnished gratuitously to the pilgrims.

Article 103. Every vessel embarking pilgrims shall have on board a physician holding a regular diploma and commissioned by the Government of the country to which the vessel belongs or by the Government of the port in which the vessel takes pilgrims on board. A second physician shall be embarked as soon as the number of pilgrims carried by the vessel exceeds one thousand.

Article 104. The captain shall be obliged to have handbills posted on board in a position which is conspicuous and accessible to those interested. They shall be in the principal languages of the countries inhabited by the pilgrims embarked, and show:

1.
The destination of the vessel.
2.
The price of the tickets.
3.
The daily ration of water and food allowed to each pilgrim.
4.
A price list of victuals not comprised in the daily ration and to be paid for extra.

Article 105. The heavy baggage of the pilgrims shall be registered, numbered, and placed in the hold. The pilgrims shall keep with them only such articles as are absolutely necessary, the regulations made by each Government for its vessels determining the nature, quantity, and dimensions thereof.

Article 106. The provisions of Chapters I, II (sections I, II, and III), and III of the present title shall be posted, in the form of regulations, in the language of the nationality of the vessel as well as in the principal languages of the countries inhabited by the pilgrims embarked, in a conspicuous and accessible place on each deck and between decks on every vessel carrying pilgrims.

Section II.Measures to be taken before departure.

Article 107. At least three days before departure the captain, or in the absence of the captain the owner or agent, of every pilgrim ship must declare his intention to embark pilgrims to the competent authority of the port of departure. In ports of call the captain, or in the absence of the captain the owner or agent, of every pilgrim ship must make this same declaration twelve hours before the departure of the vessel. This declaration must indicate the intended day of sailing and the destination of the vessel.

Article 108. Upon the declaration prescribed by the preceding article being made, the competent authority shall proceed to the inspection and measurement of the vessel at the expense of the captain. The consular officer of the country to which the vessel belongs may be present at this inspection.

The inspection only shall be made if the captain is already provided with a certificate of measurement issued by the competent authority of his country, unless it is suspected that the document no longer corresponds to the actual state of the vesselsa

Article 109. The competent authority shall not permit the departure of a pilgrim ship until he has ascertained:

(a)
That the vessel has been put in a state of perfect cleanliness and, if necessary, disinfected.
(b)
That the vessel is in a condition to undertake the voyage without danger; that it is properly equipped, arranged, and ventilated; that it is provided with an adequate number of small boats; that it contains nothing on board which is or might become detrimental to the health or safety of the passengers, and that the deck is of wood or of iron covered over with wood.
(c)
That, in addition to the provisions for the crew, there are provisions and fuel of good quality on board, suitably stored and in sufficient quantity for all the pilgrims and for the entire anticipated duration of the voyage.
(d)
That the drinking water taken on board is of good quality and from a source protected against all contamination; that there [Page 459] is a sufficient quantity thereof; that the tanks of drinking water on board are protected against all contamination and closed in such a way that the water can only be let out through the stop cocks or pumps. The devices for letting water out called “suckers” are absolutely forbidden.
(e)
That the vessel has a distilling apparatus capable of producing at least 5 liters of water per head each day for every person embarked, including the crew.
(f)
That the vessel has a disinfecting chamber whose safety and efficiency have been ascertained by the health authority of the port of embarkation of the pilgrims.
(g)
That the crew comprises a physician holding a diploma and commissioneda either by the Government of the country to which the vessel belongs or by the Government of the port where the vessel takes on pilgrims, and that the vessel has a supply of medicines, all in conformity with Articles 102 and 103.
(h)
That the deck of the vessel is free from all cargo and other incumbrances.
(i)
That the arrangements of the vessel are such that the measures prescribed by Section III hereinafter may be executed.

Article 110. The captain shall not sail until he has in his possession:

1.
A list viséed by the competent authority and showing the name, sex, the total number of the pilgrims whom he is authorized to embark.
2.
A bill of health setting forth the name, nationality, and tonnage of the vessel, the name of the captain and of the physician, the exact number of persons embarked (crew, pilgrims, and other passengers), the nature of the cargo, and the port of departure.

The competent authority shall indicate upon the bill of health whether the number of pilgrims allowed by the regulations is reached or not, and, in case it is not reached, the additional number of passengers which the vessel is authorized to embark in subsequent ports of call.

Section III.Measures to be taken during the passage.

Article 111. The deck shall remain free from encumbering objects during the voyage and shall be reserved day and night for the persons on board and be placed gratuitously at their service.

Article 112. Every day the space between decks should be cleaned carefully and scrubbed with dry sand mixed with disinfectants while the pilgrims are on deck.

Article 113. The latrines intended for passengers as well as those for the crew should be kept neat and be cleansed and disinfected three times a day.

Article 114. The excretions and dejections of persons showing symptoms of plague or cholera shall be collected in vessels containing a disinfecting solution. These vessels shall be emptied into the latrines, which shall be thoroughly disinfected after each flushing.

Article 115. Articles of bedding, carpets, and clothing which have been in contact with the patients mentioned in the preceding Article shall be immediately disinfected. The observance of this rule is especially enjoined with regard to the clothing of persons [Page 460] who come near to these patients and who may have become contaminated.

Such of the articles mentioned above as have no value shall either be thrown overboard, if the vessel is neither in a port nor a canal, or else destroyed by fire. The others shall be carried to the disinfecting chamber in impermeable sacks washed with a disinfecting solution.

Article 116. The quarters occupied by the patients and referred to in Article 100 shall be rigorously disinfected.

Article 117. Pilgrim ships shall be compelled to submit to disinfecting operations in conformity with the regulations in force on the subject in the country whose flag they fly.

Article 118. The quantity of drinking water allowed daily to each pilgrim free of charge, whatever be his age, shall be at least 5 liters.

Article 119. If there is any doubt about the quality of the drinking water or any possibility of its contamination either at the place of its origin or during the course of the voyage, the water shall be boiled or otherwise sterilized and the captain shall be obliged to throw it overboard at the first port in which a stop is made and in which he is able to procure a better supply.

Article 120. The physician shall examine the pilgrims, attend the patients, and see that the rules of hygiene are observed on board. He shall especially:

1.
Satisfy himself that the provisions dealt out to the pilgrims are of good quality, that their quantity is in conformity with the obligations assumed, and that they are suitably prepared.
2.
Satisfy himself that the requirements of Article 118 relative to the distribution of water are observed.
3.
If there is any doubt about the quality of the drinking water, remind the captain in writing of the provisions of Article 119.
4.
Satisfy himself that the vessel is maintained in a constant state of cleanliness, and especially that the latrines are cleansed in accordance with the provisions of Article 113.
5.
Satisfy himself that the lodgings of the pilgrims are maintained in a healthful condition, and that, in case of transmissible disease, they are disinfected in conformity with Articles 116 and 117.
6.
Keep a diary of all the sanitary incidents occurring during the course of the voyage and present this diary to the competent authority of the port of arrival.

Article 121. The persons intrusted with the care of the plague or cholera patients shall alone have access to them and shall have no contact with the other persons on board.

Article 122. In case of a death occurring during the voyage, the captain shall make note of the death opposite the name on the list viséed by the authority of the port of departure, besides entering on his journal the name of the deceased person, his age, where he comes from, the presumable cause of his death according to the physician’s certificate, and the date of the death.

In case of death by a transmissible disease, the body shall be wrapped in a shroud saturated with a disinfecting solution and thrown overboard.

Article 123. The captain shall see that all the prophylactic measures executed during the voyage are recorded in the ship’s journal. [Page 461] This journal shall be presented by him to the competent authority of the port of arrival.

In each port of call the captain shall have the list prepared in accordance with Article 110 viséed by the competent authority.

In case a pilgrim is landed during the course of the voyage, the captain shall note the fact on the list opposite the name of the pilgrim.

In case of an embarkation, the persons embarked shall be mentioned on this list in conformity with the aforementioned Article 110 and before it is viséed again by the competent authority.

Article 124. The bill of health delivered at the port of departure shall not be changed during the course of the voyage.

It shall be viséed by the health authority of each port of call, who shall note thereon:

1.
The number of passengers landed or embarked in the port.
2.
The incidents occurring at sea and affecting the health or life of the persons on board.
3.
The sanitary condition of the port of call.

Section IV.Measures to be taken on the arrival of pilgrims in the Red Sea:

a. sanitary measures applicable to mussulman-pilgrim ships hailing from an infected port and bound from the south toward hedjaz.

Article 125. Pilgrim ships hailing from the south and bound for Hedjaz shall first stop at the sanitary station of Camaran, where they shall be subjected to the measures prescribed by Articles 126 to 128.

Article 126. Vessels recognized as uninfected after a medical inspection shall obtain pratique when the following operations are completed:

The pilgrims shall be landed, take a shower or sea bath, and their soiled linen and the part of their wearing apparel and baggage which appears suspicious in the opinion of the health authority shall be disinfected. The duration of these operations, including debarkation and embarkation, shall not exceed forty-eight hours.

If no real or suspected case of plague or cholera is discovered during these operations, the pilgrims shall be reembarked immediately and the vessel shall proceed toward Hedjaz.

For plague, the provisions of Articles 23 and 24 shall be applied with regard to the rats which may be found on board the vessels.

Article 127. Suspicious vessels on board of which there were cases of plague or cholera at the time of departure but on which there has been no new case of plague or cholera for seven days, shall be treated in the following manner:

The pilgrims shall be landed, take a shower or sea bath, and their soiled linen and the part of their wearing apparel and baggage which appears suspicious in the opinion of the health authority shall be disinfected.

In time of cholera the bilge water shall be changed.

The parts of the vessel occupied by the patients shall be disinfected. The duration of these operations, including debarkation and embarkation, shall not exceed forty-eight hours.

[Page 462]

If no real or suspected case of plague or cholera is discovered during these operations, the pilgrims shall be reembarked immediately and the vessel shall proceed to Djeddah, where a second medical inspection shall take place on board. If the result thereof is favorable, and on the strength of a written affidavit by the ship’s physician to the effect that there has been no case of plague or cholera during the passage, the pilgrims shall be immediately landed.

If, on the contrary, one or more real or suspected cases of plague or cholera have been discovered during the voyage or at the time of arrival, the vessel shall be sent back to Camaran, where it shall undergo anew the measures applicable to infected vessels.

For plague, the provisions of Article 22, third paragraph, shall be applied with regard to the rats which may be found on board the vessels.

Article 128. Infected vessels, that is, those having cases of plague or cholera on board or having had cases of plague or cholera within seven days, shall undergo the following treatment:

The persons stricken with plague or cholera shall be landed and isolated in the hospital. The other passengers shall be landed and isolated in groups comprising as few persons as possible, so that the whole number may not be infected by a particular group if plague or cholera should develop therein.

The soiled linen, wearing apparel, and clothing of the crew and passengers, as well as the vessel, shall be disinfected in a thorough manner.

However, the local health authority may decide that the discharge of the heavy baggage and the cargo is not necessary, and that only a part of the vessel need be disinfected.

The passengers shall remain at the Camaran establishment seven or five days, according to whether it is a question of plague or cholera. When cases of plague or cholera date back several days, the length of the isolation may be diminished. This length may vary according to the date of appearance of the last case and the decision of the health authority.

The vessel shall then proceed to Djeddah, where an individual and rigorous medical inspection shall be made. If the result thereof is favorable, the vessel shall obtain pratique. If, on the contrary, real cases of plague or cholera have appeared on board during the voyage or at the time of arrival, the vessel shall be sent back to Camaran, where it shall undergo anew the treatment applicable to infected vessels.

For plague, the measures prescribed by Article 21 shall be applied with regard to the rats which may be found on board the vessels.

1. The Camaran Station.

Article 129. The following conditions shall exist at the Camaran station:

The island shall be completely vacated by its inhabitants. In order to insure the safety and facilitate the movement of vessels in the bay of Camaran Island—

1.
Buoys and beacons shall be installed in sufficient number.
2.
A mole or quay shall be constructed to land passengers and baggage.
3.
A separate flying “bridge shall be arranged for the embarkation of the pilgrims of each camp.
4.
A steam tug and a sufficient number of barges shall be provided in order to land and embark the pilgrims.

Article 130. The landing of the pilgrims from infected vessels shall be effected with the means on board. If these means are inadequate, the persons and the barges which have assisted in the landing must undergo the same treatment as the pilgrims and the infected vessel.

Article 131. The sanitary station shall comprise the following installations and equipment:

1.
A system of railway tracks connecting the landing places with the administrative and disinfecting quarters as well as with the buildings used for the various services and with the camps.
2.
Quarters for the administrative office and for the personnel of the sanitary and other services.
3.
Buildings for the disinfection and washing of wearing apparel and other articles.
4.
Buildings in which the pilgrims shall be subjected to shower or sea baths while their clothing in use is being disinfected.
5.
Hospitals separated for the two sexes and completely isolated:
(a)
For the observation of suspects;
(b)
For plague patients;
(c)
For cholera patients;
(d)
For patients stricken with other contagious diseases;
(e)
For those sick with ordinary diseases.
6.
Camps suitably separated from one another, the distance between them being as great as possible. The lodgings intended for pilgrims shall be constructed on the best hygienic principles and shall not contain over twenty-five persons.
7.
A well situated cemetery, remote from all habitations, without contact with any sheet of underground water, and drained half a meter below the level of the graves.
8.
Steam disinfecting chambers in sufficient number and combining all the elements of safety, efficiency, and rapidity. Apparatuses for the destruction of rats.
9.
Atomizers, disinfecting chambers, and the appliances necessary for chemical disinfection.
10.
Machines for distilling water, apparatus for the sterilization of water by heat, and machines for manufacturing ice. For the distribution of the drinking water: Pipes and closed, tight tanks capable of being emptied only by stop-cocks or pumps.
11.
A bacteriological laboratory with the necessary personnel.
12.
A set of movable night-soil cans for receiving the previously disinfected fecal matters and spreading them over one of the most distant parts of the island from the camps, care being taken that these dumping grounds are properly managed from a hygienic standpoint.
13.
All dirty water shall be removed from the camps and shall neither be allowed to stagnate nor be used in preparing food. The waste waters coming from hospitals shall be disinfected.

Article 132. The health authority shall provide a building for the food supplies and one for the fuel in each camp.

[Page 464]

The schedule of prices fixed by the competent authority shall be posted up in several places in the camp in the principal languages of the countries inhabited by the pilgrims.

The camp physician shall each day inspect the quality of the victuals and see that there is a sufficient supply thereof.

Water shall be furnished free of charge.

2. Stations of Abou-Ali, Abou-Saad, Djeddah, Vasta, and Yambo.

Article 133. The sanitary stations of Abou-Ali, Abou-Saad, and Vasta, as well as those of Djeddah and Yambo, shall fulfill the following conditions:

1.
At Abou-Ali there shall be established four hospitals—two for plague patients (male and female) and two for cholera patients (inhale and female).
2.
At Vasta a hospital for ordinary patients shall be created.
3.
At Abou-Saad and Vasta stone lodgings with a capacity of fifty persons each shall be constructed.
4.
Three disinfecting chambers shall be located at Abou-Ali, Abou-Saad, and Vasta, with laundries, accessories, and apparatus for the destruction of rats.
5.
Shower baths shall be established at Abou-Saad and Vasta.
6.
On each of the islands of Abou-Saad and Vasta there shall be installed distilling apparatus capable of furnishing altogether fifteen tons of water a day.
7.
The measures with regard to fecal matters and dirty water shall be regulated in accordance with the rules adopted for Camaran.
8.
A cemetery shall be established in one of the islands.
9.
The sanitary arrangements at Djeddah and Yambo provided for in Article 150 shall be installed, and especially the disinfecting chambers and other means of disinfection for pilgrims leaving Hedjaz.

Article 134. The rules prescribed for Camaran with regard to food supplies and water shall be applicable to the camps of Abou-Ali, Abou-Saad, and Vasta.

b. sanitary measures applicable to mussulman pilgrim ships hailing from the north and bound toward hedjaz.

Article 135. If plague or cholera is not known to exist in the port of departure or its neighborhood, and if no case of plague or cholera has occurred during the passage, the vessel shall be immediately granted pratique.

Article 136. If plague or cholera is known to exist in the port of departure or its vicinity, or if a case of plague or cholera has occurred during the voyage, the vessel shall be subjected at Tor to the rules established for vessels coming from the south and stopping at Camaran. The vessels shall thereupon be granted pratique.

Section V.Measures to be taken upon the return of pilgrims.

a. pilgrim ships returning northward.

Article 137. Every vessel bound for Suez or for a Mediterranean port, having on board pilgrims or similar masses of persons, and hailing from a port of Hedjaz or from any other port on the Arabian [Page 465] coast of the Red Sea, must repair to Tor in order to undergo there the observation and the sanitary measures indicated in Articles 141 to 143.

Article 138. Vessels bringing Mussulman pilgrims back toward the Mediterranean shall pass through the canal in quarantine only.

Article 139. The agents of navigation companies and captains are warned that, after completing their observation period at the sanitary station of Tor, the Egyptian pilgrims will alone be permitted to leave the vessel permanently in order to return thereupon to their homes.

Only those pilgrims will be recognized as Egyptians or as residents of Egypt who are provided with a certificate of residence issued by an Egyptian authority and conforming to the established model. Samples of this certificate shall be deposited with the consular and health authorities of Djeddah and Yambo, where the agents and captains of vessels can examine them.

Pilgrims other than Egyptians, such as Turks, Russians, Persians, Tunisians, Algerians, Moroccans, etc., can not be landed in an Egyptian port after leaving Tor. Consequently, navigation agents and captains are warned that the transshipment of pilgrims not residents of Egypt at Tor, Suez, Port Said, or Alexandria is forbidden.

Vessels having pilgrims on board who belong to the nationalities mentioned in the foregoing paragraph shall be subject to the rules applicable to these pilgrims and shall not be received in any Egyptian port of the Mediterranean.

Article 140. Before being granted pratique, Egyptian pilgrims shall undergo an observation of three days and a medical examination at Tor, Souakim, or any other station designated by the Board of Health of Egypt.

Article 141. If plague or cholera is known to exist in Hedjaz or in the port from which the vessel hails, or if it has existed in Hedjaz during the course of the pilgrimage, the vessel shall be subjected at Tor to the rules adopted at Camaran for infected vessels.

The persons stricken with plague or cholera shall be landed and isolated in the hospital. The other passengers shall be landed and isolated in groups composed of as few persons as possible, so that the whole number may not be infected by a particular group if the plague or cholera should develop therein.

The soiled linen, wearing apparel, and clothing of the crew and passengers, as well as the baggage and cargo suspected of contamination shall be landed and disinfected. Their disinfection as well as that of the vessel shall be thorough.

However, the local health authority may decide that the unloading of the heavy baggage and the cargo is not necessary, and that only a part of the vessel need undergo disinfection.

The measures provided by Articles 21 and 24 shall be applied with regard to the rats which may be found on board.

All the pilgrims shall be subjected to an observation of seven full days from the day on which the disinfecting operations are completed, whether it be a question of plague or of cholera. If a case of plague or cholera has appeared in one section, the period of seven days shall not begin for this section until the day on which the last case was discovered.

[Page 466]

Article 142. In the case contemplated in the preceding Article, the Egyptian pilgrims shall be subjected, besides, to an additional observation of three days.

Article 143. If plague or cholera is not known to exist either in Hedjaz or in the port from which the vessel hails, and has not been known to exist in Hedjaz during the course of the pilgrimage, the vessel shall be subjected at Tor to the rules adopted at Camaran for uninfected vessels.

The pilgrims shall be landed and take a shower or sea bath, and their soiled linen or the part of their wearing apparel and baggage which may appear suspicious in the opinion of the health authority shall be disinfected. The duration of these operations, including the debarkation and embarkation, shall not exceed seventy-two hours.

However, a pilgrim ship belonging to one of the nations which have adhered to the stipulations of the present and the previous conventions, if it has had no plague or cholera patients during the course of the voyage from Djeddah to Yambo or Tor and if the individual medical examination made at Tor after debarkation establishes the fact that it contains no such patients, may be authorized by the Board of Health of Egypt to pass through the Suez Canal in quarantine even at night when the four following conditions are fulfilled:

1.
Medical attendance shall be given on board by one or several physicians commissioned by the governments to which the vessel belongs.
2.
The vessel shall be provided with disinfecting chambers and it shall be ascertained that the soiled linen has been disinfected during the course of the voyage.
3.
It shall be shown that the number of pilgrims does not exceed that authorized by the pilgrimage regulations.
4.
The captain shall bind himself to repair directly to a port of the country to which the vessel belongs.

The medical examination shall be made as soon as possible after debarkation at Tor.

The sanitary tax to be paid to the quarantine administration shall be the same as the pilgrims would have paid had they remained in quarantine three days.

Article 144. A vessel which has had a suspicious case on board during the voyage from Tor to Suez shall be sent back to Tor.

Article 145. The transshipment of pilgrims is strictly forbidden in Egyptian ports.

Article 146. Vessels leaving Hedjaz and having on board pilgrims who are bound for a port on the African shore of the Red Sea shall be authorized to proceed directly to Souakim or to such other place as the Board of Health of Alexandria may determine, where they shall submit to the same quarantine procedure as at Tor.

Article 147. Vessels hailing from Hedjaz or from a port on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea with a clean bill of health, having no pilgrims or similar groups of people on board, and which have had no suspicious occurrence during the voyage, shall be granted pratique at Suez after a favorable medical inspection.

Article 148. When plague or cholera shall have been proven to exist in Hedjaz:

1.
Caravans composed of Egyptian pilgrims shall, before going to Egypt, undergo at Tor a rigid quarantine of seven days in case of [Page 467] cholera or plague. They shall then undergo an observation of three days at Tor, after which they shall not be granted pratique until a favorable medical inspection has been made and their belongings have been disinfected.
2.
Caravans composed of foreign pilgrims who are about to return to their homes by land routes shall be subjected to the same measures as the Egyptian caravans and shall be accompanied by sanitary guards to the edge of the desert.

Article 149. When plague or cholera has not been observed in Hedjaz, the caravans of pilgrims coming from Hedjaz by way of Akaba or Moila shall, upon their arrival at the canal or at Nakhel, be subjected to a medical examination and their soiled linen and wearing apparel shall be disinfected.

b. pilgrims returning southward.

Article 150. Sufficiently complete sanitary arrangements shall be installed in the ports of embarkation of Hedjaz in order to render possible the application, to pilgrims who have to travel southward in order to return to their homes, of the measures which are obligatory by virtue of Articles 46 and 47 at the moment of departure of these pilgrims in the ports situated beyond the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb.

The application of these measures is optional; that is, they are only to be applied in those cases in which the consular officer of the country to which the pilgrim belongs, or the physician of the vessel on which he is about to embark, deems them necessary.

Chapter III.Penalties.

Article 151. Every captain convicted of not having conformed, in the distribution of water, provisions, or fuel, to the obligations assumed by him, shall be liable to a fine of two Turkish pounds.a This fine shall be collected for the benefit of the pilgrim who shall have been the victim of the default, and who shall prove that he has vainly demanded the execution of the agreement made.

Article 152. Every infraction of Article 104 shall be punished by a fine of thirty Turkish pounds.

Article 153. Every captain who has committed or who has knowingly permitted any fraud whatever concerning the list of pilgrims or the bill of health provided for in Article 110 shall be liable to a fine of fifty Turkish pounds.

Article 154. Every captain of a vessel arriving without a bill of health from the port of departure, or without a vise from the ports of call, or who is not provided with the list required by the regulations and regularly kept in accordance with Articles 110, 123, and 124, shall be liable in each case to a fine of twelve Turkish pounds.

Article 155. Every captain convicted of having or having had on board more than 100 pilgrims, without the presence of a commissioned physician in conformity with the provisions of Article 103 shall be liable to a fine of thirty Turkish pounds.

Article 156. Every captain convicted of having or having had on board a greater number of pilgrims than that which he is authorized [Page 468] to embark in conformity with the provisions of Article 110 shall be liable to a fine of five Turkish pounds for each pilgrim in excess.

The pilgrims in excess of the regular number shall be landed at the first station at which a competent authority resides, and the captain shall be obliged to furnish the landed pilgrims with the money necessary to pursue their voyage to their destination.

Article 157. Every captain convicted of having landed pilgrims at a place other than their destination, except with their consent or excepting cases of vis major, shall be liable to a fine of twenty Turkish pounds for each pilgrim wrongfully landed.

Article 158. All other infractions of the provisions relative to pilgrim ships are punishable by a fine of from 10 to 100 Turkish pounds.

Article 159. Every violation proven in the course of a voyage shall be noted on the bill of health as well as on the list of pilgrims. The competent authority shall draw up a report thereof and deliver it to the proper party.

Article 160. In Ottoman ports, violations of the provisions concerning pilgrim ships shall be proven and the fine imposed by the competent authority in conformity with Articles 173 and 174.

Article 161. All agents called upon to assist in the execution of the provisions of the present convention with regard to pilgrim ships are liable to punishment in conformity with the laws of their respective countries in case of faults committed by them in the application of the said provisions.

Title IV.Surveillance and execution.

I.—The Sanitary, Maritime, and Quarantine Board of Egypt.

Article 162. The stipulations of Annex III of the Sanitary Convention of Venice of January 30, 1892, concerning the composition, rights and duties, and operation of the Sanitary, Maritime, and Quarantine Board of Egypt, are confirmed as they appear in the decrees of His Highness the Khedive under date of June 19, 1893, and December 25, 1894, as well as in the ministerial decision of June 19, 1894.

The said decrees and decision are annexed to the present convention.

Article 163. The ordinary expenses resulting from the provisions of the present convention, especially those relating to the increase of the personnel belonging to the Sanitary, Maritime, and Quarantine Board of Egypt, shall be covered by means of an annual supplementary payment by the Egyptian Government of the sum of 4,000 Egyptian pounds, which may be taken from the surplus revenues from the light-house service remaining at the disposal of said Government.

However, the proceeds of a supplementary quarantine tax of 10 tariff dollars per pilgrim to be collected at Tor shall be deducted from this sum.

In case the Egyptian Government should find difficulty in bearing this share of the expenses, the Powers represented in the Board of Health shall reach an understanding with the Khedival Government in order to insure the participation of the latter in the expenses contemplated.

[Page 469]

Article 164. The Sanitary, Maritime, and Quarantine Board of Egypt shall undertake the task of bringing the provisions of the present convention into conformity with the regulations at present enforced by it in regard to the plague, cholera, and yellow fever, as well as with the regulations relative to arrivals from the Arabian ports of the Red Sea during the pilgrim season.

To the same end it shall, if necessary, revise the general regulations of the sanitary, maritime, and quarantine police at present in force.

These regulations, in order to become effective, must be accepted by the various Powers represented on the Board.

II.—The Superior Board of Health of Constantinople.

Article 165. The Superior Board of Health of Constantinople shall decide on the measures to be adopted in order to prevent the introduction of epidemic diseases into the Ottoman Empire and their transmission to foreign countries.

Article 166. The number of Ottoman delegates to the Superior Board of Health who shall take part in the voting of the Board is fixed at four members, namely:

The President of the Board or, in his absence, the person presiding over the meeting. They shall not take part in the voting except in case of a tie.

The Inspector General of the Sanitary Services.

The Service Inspector.

The Delegate acting as intermediary between the Board and the Sublime Port, called Mouhassebedgi.

Article 167. The appointment of the Inspector General, of the Service Inspector, and of the aforementioned Delegate, who are designated by the Board, shall be ratified by the Ottoman Government.

Article 168. The High Contracting Parties recognize the right of Roumania, as a maritime power, to be represented on the Board by one delegate.

Article 169. The delegates of the various nations shall be physicians holding regular diplomas from a European faculty of medicine and citizens or subjects of the country which they represent, or consular officers of the grade of vice-consul at least or an equivalent grade.

The delegates shall have no connection of any kind with the local authorities or with a maritime company.

These provisions do not apply to the present incumbents.

Article 170. The decisions of the Superior Board of Health, reached by a majority of the members who compose it, are of an executory character and without appeal.

The signatory governments agree that their representatives at Constantinople shall be instructed to notify the Ottoman Government of the present convention and to endeavor to obtain its accession thereto.

Article 171. The enforcement and surveillance of the provisions of the present convention with regard to pilgrimages and to measures against the invasion and propagation of plague and cholera are intrusted, within the scope of the jurisdiction of the Superior Board of Health of Constantinople, to a committee appointed entirely from among the members of this Board and composed of representatives [Page 470] of the various Powers which shall have adhered to the present convention.

The number of representatives of Turkey on this committee shall be three, one of them being president thereof. In case of a tie in voting, the president shall have the casting vote.

Article 172. A corps of diplomaed physicians, disinfectors, and skilled mechanics, as well as of sanitary guards recruited from among persons who have performed military service as officers or noncommissioned officers, shall be created for the purpose of insuring the proper operation, under the direction of the Superior Board of Health of Alexandria, of the various sanitary establishments enumerated in and instituted by the present convention.

Article 173. The health authority of the Ottoman port of call or arrival who discovers a violation of the regulations, shall draw up a report thereof, on which the captain may enter his observations. A certified copy of this report shall be transmitted, at the port of call or arrival, to the consular officer of the country whose flag the vessel flies. The latter officer shall see that the fine is deposited with him. In the absence of a consul, the health authority shall receive this fine on deposit. The fine shall not be finally credited to the Superior Board of Health of Constantinople until the consular commission referred to in the following Article has pronounced upon the validity of the fine.

A second copy of the certified report shall be transmitted by the health authority who has discovered the violation to the President of the Board of Health of Constantinople, who shall communicate the document to the Consular Commission.

A minute shall be made on the bill of health by the health or consular authority, noting the violation discovered and the deposit of the fine.

Article 174. At Constantinople there shall be created a Consular Commission to pass judgment upon the contradictory declarations of the health officer and the captain under charge. It shall be appointed each year by the consular corps. The Health Department may be represented by an agent acting as public prosecutor. The consul of the nation interested shall always be summoned and shall be entitled to vote.

Article 175. The expenses of the establishment, within the jurisdiction of the Superior Board of Health of Constantinople, of the permanent and temporary sanitary posts contemplated by the present convention, shall be borne by the Ottoman Government as far as the construction of buildings is concerned. The Superior Board of Health of Constantinople is authorized, if there is urgent need, to advance the necessary sums out of the reserve fund; these sums shall be furnished it upon demand by “the Mixed Commission in charge of the revision of the sanitary tariff.” It shall, in this case, see to the construction of these establishments.

The Superior Board of Health of Constantinople shall organize without delay the sanitary establishments of Hanikin and Kisil-Dizie, near Bayazid, upon the Turko-Persian and Turko-Russian frontiers, by means of the funds which are henceforth placed at its disposal.

The other expenses arising, within the jurisdiction of the said Board, in connection with the measures prescribed by the present [Page 471] convention, shall be divided between the Ottoman Government and the Superior Board of Health of Constantinople, in conformity with the understanding reached between the Government and the Powers represented on this Board.

III.—The International Health Board of Tangier.

Article 176. In the interest of public health, the High Contracting Parties agree that their representatives in Morocco shall again invite the attention of the International Health Board of Tangier to the necessity of enforcing the provisions of the sanitary conventions.

IV.—Miscellaneous Provisions.

Article 177. Each Government shall determine the means to be employed for disinfection and for the destruction of rats.a

Article 178. The proceeds from the sanitary taxes and fines shall in no case be employed for objects other than those within the scope of the Boards of Health.

Article 179. The High Contracting Parties agree to have a set of instructions prepared by their health departments for the purpose of [Page 472] enabling captains of vessels, especially when there is no physician on board, to enforce the provisions contained in the present convention with regard to plague and cholera, as well as the regulations relative to yellow fever.

V.—The Persian Gulf.

Article 180. The expenses of construction and maintenance of the sanitary station whose creation at the Island of Ormuz is provided for by Article 81 of the present convention shall be borne by the Superior Board of Health of Constantinople. The mixed committee of revision of the said Board shall meet as soon as possible in order to furnish it, upon its demand, the necessary funds from the available reserves.

VI.—An International Health Bureau.

Article 181. The Conference having taken note of the annexed conclusions of its committee on ways and means regarding the creation of an international health bureau at Paris, the French Government shall, when it judges it opportune, submit propositions to this effect through diplomatic channels to the nations represented at the Conference.

Title V.—Yellow fever.

Article 182. It is recommended that the countries interested modify their sanitary regulations so as to bring them into accord with the latest scientific data regarding the mode of transmission of yellow fever, and especially regarding the part played by mosquitoes as vehicles of the germs of the disease.

Title VI.—Adhesions and ratifications.

Article 183. The governments which have not signed the present convention shall be permitted to adhere thereto upon request. Notice of this adhesion shall be given through diplomatic channels to the Government of the French Republic and by the latter to the other signatory governments.

Article 184. The present convention shall be ratified and the ratifications thereof deposited at Paris as soon as possible.

It shall be enforced as soon as it shall have been proclaimed in conformity with the legislation of the signatory nations. In the respective relations of the Powers which shall have ratified it, it shall supersede the international sanitary conventions signed January 30, 1892; April 15, 1893; April 3, 1894; and March 19, 1897.

The previous arrangements enumerated above shall remain in force with regard to the Powers which, having signed or adhered to them, may not ratify or accede to the present act.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present convention and affixed thereto their seals.

Done at Paris on December 3, 1903, in a single copy, which shall remain deposited in the archives of the Government of the French [Page 473] Republic, and of which certified copies shall be transmitted through diplomatic channels to the Contracting Powers.

[l. s.] Signed: Groeben.
[l. s.] Signed: Bumm.
[l. s.] Signed: Gaffky.
[l. s.] Signed: Nocht.
[l. s.] Signed: Suzzara.
[l. s.] Signed: Ebner.
[l. s.] Signed: Dr. Daimer.
[l. s.] Signed: Chyzer.
[l. s.] Signed: Roediger.
[l. s.] Signed: E. Beco.
[l. s.] Signed: Gabriel de Piza.
[l. s.] Signed: Marquis de Novallas.
[l. s.] Signed: H. D. Geddings.
[l. s.] Signed: Frank Anderson.
[l. s.] Signed: Camille Barrère.
[l. s.] Signed: Georges Louis.
[l. s.] Signed: P. Brouardel.
[l. s.] Signed: Henri Monod.
[l. s.] Signed: Dr. Roux.
[l. s.] Signed: J. de Cazotte.
[l. s.] Signed: Maurice de Bunsen.
[l. s.] Signed: Théodore Thomson.
[l. s.] Signed: Frank G. Clemow.
[l. s.] Signed: Arthur D. Alban.
[l. s.] Signed: N. Delyanni.
[l. s.] Signed: S. Clado.
[l. s.] Signed: Rocco Santoliquido.
[l. s.] Signed: Paulucci De’ Calboli.
[l. s.] Signed: Adolfo Cotta.
[l. s.] Signed: Vannerus.
[l. s.] Signed: Suzzara.
[l. s.] Signed: W. Welderen Rengers.
[l. s.] Signed: W. Ruijsch.
[l. s.] Signed: Dr. C. Stékoulis.
[l. s.] Signed: A. Plate.
[l. s.] Signed: Nazare Aga.
[l. s.] Signed: J. J. Da Silva Amado.
[l. s.] Signed: G. G. Ghika.
[l. s.] Signed: Dr. J. Cantacuzene.
[l. s.] Signed: Platon De Waxel.
[l. s.] Signed: Michel Popovitch.
[l. s.] Signed: Lardy.
[l. s.] Signed: Dr. Schmid.
[l. s.] Signed: M. Chérif.
[l. s.] Signed: Marc Arm and Ruffer.

A true copy.

[seal.] Delcassé,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the French Republic.

And whereas the said Convention was duly ratified by the Government of the United States of America, by and with the advice and [Page 474] consent of the Senate thereof, and by the Governments aforesaid with the exception of Spain, Greece, Portugal, Servia and Egypt; and their ratifications were, in pursuance of Article 184 of the said Convention, deposited with the Government of the French Republic at Paris on April 6, 1907;

And whereas, the ratification of the United States of America was so deposited with the following declaration, to wit: “That there is occasion to substitute in the United States ‘observation’ for ‘surveillance’ in the cases contemplated in Article 21 and following articles, by reason of the special legislation of the several States of the Union.”

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, have caused the said Convention to be made public, to the end that the same and every article and clause thereof may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United States and the citizens thereof, subject to the aforesaid declaration.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed.


[seal.]
Theodore Roosevelt

By the President:
Elihu Root
Secretary of State.

[Translation.]

Procès-Verbal of the Deposit of the Ratifications of the International Sanitary Convention Signed at Paris December 3, 1903.

In execution of Article 184 of the International Sanitary Convention of December 3, 1903, the undersigned, representatives of the cosignatory Powers, to wit: H. S. H. Prince Radolin, Ambassador of Germany; His Exc. Count de Khevenhüller-Metsch, Ambassador of Austria-Hungary; M. Leghait, Minister of Belgium; M. de Piza, Minister of Brazil; H. Exc. Mr. White, Ambassador of the United States of America; H. Exc. M. Pichon, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the French Republic; H. Exc. Sir Francis Bertie, Ambassador of his Britannic Majesty; H. Exc. Count Tornielli, Ambassador of Italy; M. Vannerus, Chargé d’Affaires of Luxemburg; M. Brunet, Consul of Montenegro at Paris; M. le Chevalier de Stuers, Minister of the Netherlands; Samad Khan, Minister of Persia; M. Ghika, Minister of Roumania; H. Exc. M. de Nélidow, Ambassador of Russia; M. Lardy, Minister of Switzerland, met in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Paris in order to deposit the ratifications of the High Contracting Powers with the Government of the French Republic.

The Undersigned note that:

I.
The Governments of Greece and Servia having given notice, by means of two communications delivered to the Legations of the French Republic at Athens and Belgrade on May 16 and July 14, 1904, that they did not adhere to the said Convention, it follows that [Page 475] Greece and Servia, whose delegates signed this act ad referendum, can not be considered as contracting parties.
II.
The ratification of the President of the United States of America is deposited with the following declaration, to wit: “That it is necessary to substitute ‘observation’ for ‘surveillance’ in the United States in the cases contemplated by articles 21 et seq., on account of the peculiar legislation of the different States of the Union.”
III.
The ratification of H. M. the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor of India, is deposited with the following declarations:
  • “1. That the establishment of a sanitary station on the Island of Ormuz by the Superior Board of Health of Constantinople shall not take place until the said Board shall have been reorganized in conformity with the provisions of the Convention of December 3, 1903, and until the Mixed Tariff Commission shall have placed funds at the disposal of the said Board for this purpose by a unanimous decision.
  • “2. That the stipulations of the said Convention shall not be applicable to the colonies, possessions, or protectorates of His Britannic Majesty until after notification to this effect shall have been sent by the Representative of His Britannic Majesty at Paris to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the French Republic in the name of such colony, possession, or protectorate.”
IV.
The ratification of H. M. the Shah of Persia is deposited with the following declaration, to-wit: “That it shall be understood that the flag which is to fry over the sanitary station of Ormuz shall be the Persian flag and that the armed guards who may be necessary to insure the observance of the sanitary measures shall be furnished by the Persian Government.”
V.
The signatory Powers have made the following double declaration, which is, moreover, in conformity with the stipulations contained in the Convention of Venice of March 19, 1897, viz: “That the Contracting Powers reserve the right to agree with one another with regard to the introduction of modifications in the text of the present Convention and that each of these Powers preserves the right to denounce the present Convention, which denunciation shall not have effect except with regard to it.”
VI.
The deposit of the instrument of the ratifications of the Egyptian Government is made through the medium of the Government of the Republic in compliance with a request made in a letter of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of His Highness the Khedive under date of October 25, 1906.

The Undersigned also declare that their Governments agree to grant to Spain and Portugal, whose Parliaments have not yet acted on the Convention of December 3, 1903, the privilege of depositing their ratifications later and within the shortest period possible.

The Government of the Republic shall take note of these ratifications and shall advise the other ratifying Powers of the deposit of the ratifications of the two Powers above mentioned.

Whereupon, all the ratifications having been presented and found, upon examination, to be in good and due form, they are confided to the Government of the Republic to be deposited in the Archives of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the French Republic.

[Page 476]

In witness whereof the present Procès-Verbal has been drawn up and-a certified copy thereof shall be transmitted, through the Government of the French Republic, to each of the Powers which ratified the Sanitary Convention of December 3, 1903.


[l. s.] Signed:
Radolin.

[l. s.] Signed:
R. Khevenhüller.

[l. s.] Signed:
A. Leghait.

[l. s.] Signed:
Gabriel de Piza.

[l. s.] Signed:
Henry White.

[l. s.] Signed:
S. Pichon.

[l. s.] Signed:
Francis Bertie.

[l. s.] Signed:
G. Tornielli.

[l. s.] Signed:
Vannerus.

[l. s.] Signed:
Brunet.

[l. s.] Signed:
A. De Stuers.

[l. s.] Signed:
M. Samad.

[l. s.] Signed:
Gr. G. Ghika.

[l. s.] Signed:
Nelidow.

[l. s.] Signed:
Lardy.

A true copy.

The Minister Plenipotentiary, Chief of the Protocol Bureau.

  1. By “isolation” is meant the isolation of the patient, and of the persons attending him permanently, and the prohibition of visits by any other person.
  2. By “observation” is meant the isolation of the passengers, either on board a vessel or at a sanitary station, before they are granted pratique.
  3. By “surveillance” is meant that the passengers are not isolated and that they immediately obtain pratique, but that the attention of the authorities is called to them wherever they go and that they are subjected to a medical examination to ascertain the state of their health.
  4. The term “crew” is applied to all persons who form or have formed part of the crew or of the servants on board the vessel, including stewards, waiters, “cafedji,” etc. The term is to be construed in this sense wherever employed in the present Convention.
  5. The patients shall as far as possible be landed at Moses Spring. The other persons may undergo the observation in a sanitary station designated by the Sanitary, Maritime, and Quarantine Board of Egypt (pilots’ lazaretto).
  6. It is desirable that each vessel be provided with the principal immunizing agents (antiplague serum, Haffkine vaccine, etc.).
  7. The competent authority is at present: In British India, an officer designated for this purpose by the local government (Native Passenger Ships Act 1887, Art. 7); in Dutch India, the master of the port; in Turkey, the health authority; in Austria-Hungary, the authority of the port; in Italy, the captain of the port; in France, Tunis, and Spain, the health authority; in Egypt, the quarantine and health authority, etc.
  8. Exception is made for governments which have no commissioned physicians.
  9. The Turkish pound is worth 22 francs and 50 centimes.
  10. The following modes of disinfection are given by way of suggestion:

    Old clothing, old rags, infected materials used in dressing wounds, paper, and other objects without value should be destroyed by fire.

    Wearing apparel, bedding, and mattresses contaminated by plague bacilli are positively disinfected—

    By passing them through a disinfecting chamber using steam under pressure, or through a chamber with flowing steam at 100° C.

    By exposure to vapors of formol.

    Objects which may, without damage, be immersed in antiseptic solutions (bed covers, underclothes, sheets) may be disinfected by means of solutions of sublimate in the proportion of 1 per 1,000, of phenic acid in the proportion of 3 per 100, of lysol and commercial cresyl in the proportion of 3 per 100, of formol in the proportion of 1 per 100 (one part of the commercial solution of formaldehyde in the proportion of 40 per 100), or by means of alcaline hypochlorites (of soda, postassium) in the proportion of 1 per 100, that is, one part of the usual commercial hypochlorite.

    It goes without saying that the time of contact should be long enough to allow dried up germs to be penetrated by the antiseptic solutions, four to six hours being sufficient.

    For the destruction of rats three methods are at present employed:

    1.
    That using sulphurous acid mixed with a small quantity of sulphuric anlrydride, which is forced under pressure into the holds, stirring the air up. This causes the death of the rats and insects, and destroys the plague bacilli at the same time when the content of sulphuro-sulphuric anhydride is sufficiently great.
    2.
    The process by which a noncombustible mixture of carbon monoxid and carbon dioxid is sent into the holds.
    3.
    The process which utilizes carbonic acid in such a way that the content of this gas in the air of the vessel is about 30 per cent.

    The last two procedures cause the death of the rodents, but are not claimed to kill the insects and plague bacilli.

    The technical committee of the Paris Sanitary Conference of 1903 suggested the following three remedies, viz, a mixture of sulphuro-sulphuric anhydride, a mixture of carbon monoxid and carbonic acid, and carbonic acid, as being among those to which the governments might have recourse, and it was of opinion that, in case they were not used by the health department itself, the latter ought to supervise each operation and ascertain that the rats have been destroyed.