The mysterious wave of fever and backache that was reported in Spain a few weeks ago seems to have come to Bombay: a huge number of people are down with these symptoms here. Yesterday [June 24] it was reported that six hundred men were away from the Government dockyard on account of them. Three or four hundred were away from their work at the mint. The biggest newspaper office here had over three hundred absentees and the tale is the same in all parts of the town. The Municipal Health Department say the epidemics is only an unusually general epidemic of the influenza that generally comes here about August. Presumably the fever god had thought our monsoon was approaching its concluding stages that he might be excused for doing so for the weather we have had during the last six weeks had been the limit of everything nasty.
