MYSORE DIVISION.
higher power has rendered imperative in his prison. If there has yet been no positive prohibi-
tion on the subject, it is perhaps because Medical Officers have not been sufficiently loud in
their protests against the practice.
Food-supply .—It will be seen by the following table that the famine in Mysore and the Food-supply.
Ceded Districts culminated in this year. The sepoys received compensation for the dearness
of rice, but as most of them had numerous relatives dependent on them, this did not always save
them from feeling in their own persons the pressure of the calamity which was decimating the
geneal population. The Medical Officer of the 23rd Light Infantry attributes some of the
sickness in that corps to an insufficiency of food, and some of the men in the 28th Native
Infantry at Mercara are stated by Surgeon Dill to have suffered from the same cause.
The Medical Officer of the 27th Native Infantry reports that " the general health and
vigor of a large proportion of the regiment was observed to have fallen below the normal state
in consequence of the privations they suffered from during the famine. The high prices com-
pelled many to use the cheapest and less nourishing kinds of food, while also the ordinary vege-
tables were not obtainable, and the tank-water which they would use in preference to good
well water had come to be unfit for drinking."
The Medical Officers of other corps make no mention of any falling off in the men's
condition as the result of insufficient or unsuitable food :-
Food-supply (Quantity per Rupee in Seers).
Wheat.
Common Rice. Cholum.
Cumbu.
Ragi.
Firewood.
1876. 1877. 1876. 1877. 1876. 1877. 1876. 1877. 1876. 1877. 1876. 1877.
Province of Mysore ...
... 9.1
5.4 9.9
5.9
15.3 7.8 13.2
8.7
16.7 7.6 149.1
1 5 9 . 7
Do. of Coorg
..
... 7.8
5.8 10.4
6.6
...
...
. . . . . .
15.7 8.4 108.5
110
Ceded Districts.
Bellary
. . . 12.16
8.1 10.35 6.64 16.9 7.76 18
8.9
14.27 9.77 5 Rs. 5 Rs.
Cuddapah . 7.1
5
6.7
4.7
11.3 5.6 12.08 6.1
13.6 6
500
600
( Kurnool ... 7
5
7.5
4.7
11
5.7 12.
6.5
12.5 6
489
440
Clothing .—The head-dress of the sepoy is objected to by the Medical Officer of the 23rd Clothing.
Light Infantry as affording insufficient protection against either sun or rain, and in this respect
I quite agree with him. The Surgeon of the 21st Native Infantry states that the men of his
corps wear red clothing in the cold and white in the hot weather, and that neither is suitable,
but it is not clear whether his objection is to the color or to the material of the dress. The
other officers report that the dress of the sepoys is unobjectionable, but nearly all make mention
of foot-galls, the result of ill-fitting boots, and seem to think that these would be less numerous
were the sepoys to wear socks. My own opinion is that boots of the English pattern are only
calculated to cripple the sepoy, and that on the march he will take them off, whether permitted
or not. As long as he is dressed to look as like an English soldier as dress can make him,
boots are a necessary part of his equipment, but if he is ever to win battles with his legs, the
English boots, and with them the tight tunic, trousers, and forage cap must go, and a more
comfortable costume such as that of the French Zouave or Turco, for instance, be substituted for
the present one.
Duties.—In no instance have the duties been so severe as to affect injuriously the sepoy's Duties.
health. The number of nights in bed have ranged from 3.75 a week in the 21st Native Infantry
to 6 . 3 in the 30th Native infantry.
Vaccination.—This subject will be mentioned further on.
Vaccination.
Hospitals.—The hospital accommodation has been found sufficient except in the 23rd Light Hospitals.
Infantry at Bangalore, and the Cattle Depôt at Húnsúr. The latter hospital was dangerously
overcrowded for some time, but steps have been taken to prevent a recurrence of the inconve-
nience by the removal of the Civil Dispensary belonging to the Mysore Government, which
occupied a part of the Depôt Hospital. No overcrowding occurred in the hospital of the 23rd
Light Infantry as the surplus sick were lodged in tents.
The hospital of the 28th Native Infantry at Mercara has a boarded floor, the space under
which requires cleaning and ventilating.
All the hospitals have been lime-washed according to regulation.
Latrines. — Latrines for natives of this Presidency at any rate cannot be too simple in their Latrines.
arrangements. The possibility of misunderstanding or making a mistake about them should
be reduced to a minimum. Two steps just large enough for the feet, with two chatties partly
filled with dry earth between them ; these are the essential furniture of a native latrine ;
whatever else may be added admits of variation according to circumstances, but these are
constant elements that should not be altered or omitted.
In the new regimental latrines now being erected for the Native Infantry at Bellary, the
steps for standing on are four feet in length, and unless a person place himself in the exact