BRITISH BURMAH DIVISION.
109
Years.
Rate per Cent. of
Average Strength Present.
Average Strength.
Admissions.
Daily Sick.
All Deaths.
Pensioned.
Sick Leave.
1873 ...
...
...
1.03·22
3·58
2·04
·07
3·63
1874 . ..
...
...
88·94
3·26
1·70
·56
4·91
1875 ...
...
118·15
4·67
1·95 ·94
2·92
Average
103·43
3·83
1·89
·52
3·82
1876 ...
...
...
111·38
4·34
1·50
·72
3·96
The following corps were serving in this division on the 31st December 1876 :—
4th Regiment M.N.I.
6th
do.
do.
15th
do.
do.
17th
do.
do.
39th
do.
do. Head-Quarters and Left Wing.
Deputy Surgeons-General P. G. FitzGerald, M.D., and H. R. Oswald, M.D., were
respectively in charge of this division and the latter reports as follows :—
Alleged Causes of Sickness and Mortality.
Seasonal phenomena.—The seasons in Burmah are usually well defined, and the character
-istics of each most pronounced. They are divided into cold, hot and wet, the former
commencing in November and ending in February. During this period the alternations of
temperature are very great, the nights and mornings are exceedingly cold, and the sun powerful
in the afternoons. Dense fogs up to 9 A.M. prevail in February. The hot season begins in
March and ends in May, when the rains set in. Although the most uncomfortable to the
feelings, it is the healthiest season. The rains extend from May to October, when the long
-continued and excessive damp and absence of sunshine renders the climate peculiarly depressing
at this time. The year under review presented nothing very remarkable. At Rangoon,
Shoay-gheen and Tonghoo the rainfall was slightly below what is supposed to be the
a v e r a g e t h o u g h a t R a n g o o n i t w a s p r o t r a c t e d b e y o n d t h e u s u a l p e r i o d o r w e l l i n t o N o v e m b e r . A t
Moulmein the usual amount of rain seems to have fallen, and at Port Blair it exceeded the
average of the previous five years by 27 inches.
Seasonal
phenomena.
Necessaries of life.—Food has been plentiful, but every article is very dear, meat especially,
and the sepoy must be almost quite debarred the use of it.
Causes of sickness and mortality.— On the whole the Native troops have enjoyed good health.
No epidemic has occurred, though cholera and small-pox prevailed among the civil population
in various parts of the country. At "Aberdeen" Station in the Andamans and at the Nicobars
the sepoys suffered severely from fever of an intermittent type during the rains, owing, I think,
in some measure to the want of proper drainage, the clearing of jungle not fax from the barracks,
and certain swamps artificially formed. The regiments at Tonghoo have again sent a good many
men away on sick leave. Amongst them were several cases of so-called "amaurosis," but which
I believe were more cases of "general debility," which is a common complaint among the sepoys
in Burmah, and which arises from the want of sufficient nitrogenous food, the sepoy being
debarred from the use of meat by its excessive cost; and when to this is added the practice the
sepoy has of saving a portion of his ration to sell that he may send the proceeds to his family.
There is no difficulty in accounting for cases of "general debility" in a country where the
climate for many months of the year is so depressing, and requires a generous rather than a
spare diet for the maintenance of health. It has generally been supposed that there is a good
deal of malingering in Burmah owing to the separation of the sepoy from his family; but
whether this
malingering
so or not, I believe he would enjoy good health if his domestic arrangements
were the same as in India, and he was able to secure a proportion of animal food, and, moreover,
that he would be content to remain in the country. With the exception of the Andamans and
Nicobars, the stations occupied by the troops are not malarious. The indigenous natives and
the Coringa coolies are able-bodied, robust men, and present no appearance of suffering from
malarial cachexia or splenic enlargement.
Barrack and hospital accommodation .—This has been sufficient and suitable. At Tonghoo
there is a particularly good hospital. It is complete in every respect and should be taken as a
model in erecting others in this country.
28
Necessaries
of life.
Causes of
sickness and
mortality.
Barrack and
hospital
accom moda
-tion.