98
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BENGAL,
Diet and food
-supply.
IX. Diet and food-supply.—The Government ration was of excellent quality, but sugar,
spices, chillies, &c., were greatly missed by the men. They could very seldom be obtained in
the village bazaars. The Sikhs complained much of being unable to obtain milk, the Beloo
- c h e e s n o t u s i n g i t ; b u t o f c o u r s e t h e s e p r i v a t i o n s w e r e u n a v o i d a b l e u n d e r t h e c o n d i t i o n s o f
service. I must say I was much struck and very pleasantly surprised at the satisfactory and
harmonious working of the caste mess system, adopted in the 13th Native Infantry on board-
ship and at Cyprus. Each caste had its cooking place, and put their rations in one common
stock, which was cooked for the mess by the cooks and certain sipahis told off to assist, and
nothing could be more satisfactory than the result. In my opinion the present system of regi-
mental bazaars is most unsatisfactory, and I think it is a subject well deserving of careful con-
sideration by those qualified to really judge in the matter, and see if no better system of dieting
o u r s i p a h i a r m y c a n b e f o u n d .
Clothing.
Marches
and service.
X. Clothing.— A t
Umballa the regimental clothing of the men was all that could be de
- s i r e d , b u t i n t h e e a r l y c o l d e r m o n t h s o f t h e y e a r , a s u s u a l , t h e i r u n d r e s s o r H i n d u s t a n i c l o t h e s
were not nearly warm enough. With regard to the clothing of the men on this expedition, I
regret to say, in my opinion it was quite insufficient for the climate; at the same time I am
quite aware that such exigencies are inseparable from the conditions of service. Owing to
the stringent regulations as to baggage allowance, each sipahi being strictly limited to 20 Њs.,
the men started with actually much less warm clothing than they usually have in the cold
season in the Punjab, and this too in a climate the cold of which was frequently registered
below zero Farenheit. Each man had only his red and khakee uniform, great-coat, a linen
shirt or waist-coat, a light durree or carpet, and a cotton razai. It is unnecessary to say how,
in even an Indian cold weather, the men supplement these by various articles of warm clothing,
blankets, &c. ; yet on this expedition the men had not the advantage of sleeping on charpoys,
and only those who have experienced it can realize how intensely cold the ground was on which
the men lay with only a light durree under them. The men could take no more without being
over-weight. Government quickly recognized how insufficient this was, and sanctioned for
each man the following articles :—a jersey, a waterproof sheet, a blanket, mittens, stockings.
These were duly indented for as directed by letter and telegram, but the regiment was
pushed so fast ahead of the supplies, that they were never received ; one pair of shoes per
man was obtained. Of course every possible effort was made regimentally. At Mooltan,
putties and soft Sambre leather socks were obtained (but of the latter only 200 pairs) and
issued to the men on payment ; 18 pairs of country blankets for the whole regiment were
also obtained from the Commissariat Department at Quetta. A percentage of poshteens
was obtained (regimentally) for the night sentries. In the light of these facts, I ca
n - n o t h e l p b e i n g o f o p i n i o n t h a t t h e m e n w e r e q u i t e i n s u f f i c i e n t l y c l o t h e d f o r t h e i n t e n s e c o l d
we experienced. We were much more fortunate in our followers. They got their warm clothes
and blankets before we crossed the frontier. This was all important in the case of our kahars,
most of whom came to us half-starved from the famine districts and unclothed, except their
turbans and dhooties.¹ The result would have been very calamitous if we had taken them up
in this condition. I felt very anxious and wrote very strongly on the subject, and we were for
-tunate enough to get their warm things. The way these men changed and grew fat on Go
-vernment rations in a few months was very striking and amusing in some cases. With regard
to the men's Hindustani shoes, I have always believed them the best foot-gear for natives, and
still think they are so in Hindustan ; but I must say they were terribly unsuited to the work
the men had to go through on this expedition. It was well recognised that they would be so
before we left Mooltan, but we could not get boots. In the deep sand of the marches in
Beloochistan the shoes got filled with sand; and when the feet perspired, it getting between and
under the toes galled and distressed the men terribly ; at every opportunity they would kick
off and endeavour to empty the shoes, and some took them off altogether. It was terribly try
-ing as the marches were very long, varying from 19 to 28 miles, and the weather very hot; but
I think when we got into the great cold in the Bolan and beyond it, the state of things was
far worse. The men's feet broke into great cracks; in many cases these were very painful and
bled ; those who had the leather stockings alluded to considered themselves very fortunate. The
Hindustani shoe is a wretched covering for the foot for men who have to march in snow, or
worse, in the slush of melting snow. I am now very strongly of opinion that every sipahi ought
to be obliged to keep one pair of ammunition boots and two pairs of socks. It would not
be very expensive, as the shoe might be worn in India, the boot being kept in reserve. It
would certainly add greatly to a regiment's efficiency, in case of its being suddenly ordered on
service such as we were. The boot without the sock is apt to gall the foot, to prevent which
also the boot ought to be occasionally worn. If the question came to be 'what shall be the
foot-gear of our native soldiers ?" I should certainly give my opinion in favour of the ammu
-nition boot. Natives will certainly march better in their shoes along Indian roads, but I do not
think the difference is so great, as to counterbalance the many advantages in other respects of
the boot. Most men who have given much thought to the subject, seem strongly of opinion
that the mixed equipment will not answer, and that boots will not answer unless they are
worn constantly, otherwise they will cause much foot-soreness. This would practically reduce
the question to one of a choice between the boot and shoe, and on the whole, for the reasons
above given, I believe the boot the more preferable.
XIII. Marches and service. —The circumstances of the march of the right half battalion
demand a short notice, as the work to which the men were subjected was of an unusually
1 See foot-note page 75.