176
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BENGAL,
2nd Regiment, Punjab Cavalry—Rajanpur.
Medical
Officers.
Location and
movements.
Meteorology
and climate.
Water-supply.
Duties and
employment.
Marches and
service.
Diet and food-
supply.
I . M e d i c a l O f f i c e r s
. — S u r g e o n - M a j o r G . F a r e l l h e l d m e d i c a l c h a r g e o f t h e
regiment up to the 10th
July ; Surgeon McCartie
from the 11th July to the
end of the year.
II. Location and movements.—
The regiment was at Kohat until
the 7th January, when it marched
to Rajanpur in course of relief,
and was stationed there until the
4th of October. At the end of
September the regiment was
ordered on service, through
Quetta. It marched on the 5th
of October, reached Quetta on the
27th, and after remaining there
a month, proceeded towards Can-
dahar with the 2nd Division, Quetta Field Force, under Major-General Biddulph, C.B. A de-
tachment of 164 sabres was quartered at Quetta from March till November, which gave a party
of 25 men to the garrison of Khelat, and a small detachment was left at Quetta with the sick
when the regiment moved to the front.
III. Meteorology and climate.— The heat was unusually great from June to October, and
several cases of sunstroke occurred among the civil population of Rajanpur. On the march
to Quetta the heat was intense, 107° Fahr. being registered one day in the tents, and numbers of
the men got fever from exposure to the sun. In November and December it was bitterly cold
at night and the thermometer frequently fell to 5° Fahrenheit.
VIII. Water-supply.—The water-supply is obtained from wells, and is sufficient and of good
quality. The water of the adjacent post, Mahomedpur, is saline and purgative from the presence
of sulphate of magnesia and the sulphate and chloride of sodium, and the detachments had to get
their drinking water sent from Rajanpur.
IX. Diet and food-supply.—The diet was as usual, except that vegetables were scarce and
clear. There were no cases of scurvy, but I believe that many of the bad cases in Quetta were
prolonged and aggravated by the deficiency of vegetables in their food. I also think that disease
might be better resisted in such a climate by extra good living and alcoholic stimulants, which
our men could not afford. At and beyond Quetta the atta was often of bad quality and very
indigestible, and frequently rice was not procurable, even for the dysentery patients.
XI. Duties and employment.—Up to the time the regiment reached Quetta there was no
severe duty. At Quetta and beyond it there were generally a large number of men on night
duty, but it was never excessive. Duty did not excercise an unfavourable influence on the
health of the men, except so far as night duty always does, for I have no doubt that when men
are subject to fever, relapses will often occur after a cold night on sentry. There was nothing
to show that anything unusual of the kind occurred, but I believe that night duty always does
excercise an unfavourable influence on the health, and that it is the sole cause of the great sick-
ness of soldiers, compared with camp-followers, who live with them, but who are of poorer phy-
sique, worse clothed, and worse fed. Average of' nights in bed, 5.30 in 7.
XIII. Marches and service.— Leaving Kohat on the 8th January the regiment marched
through liunnoo, Dera Ismail Khan, and Dera Ghazi Khan, to Rajanpur, where it arrived on
the 7th February to relieve the 1st Punjab Cavalry, and where it remained until October. At
the end of September the regiment was ordered on service, and marched on the 5th October for
Quetta by the Dena Bhagti route. The march lay over a flat of peat and sand to the out-post
of Bundewala, close to the boundary that divides our territory from Beloochistan. Then crossing
a waste of sand and through a nullah we gained the bed of the Shoree River, and from this our
route lay along a succession of peculiar river-beds and alternate stony base and uncultivated
valleys. Generally the rivers were narrow, with high banks, often 150 feet deep, and perfectly
perpendicular, becoming wider and more irregular, and their sides more sloping where the banks
were clay-capped and of loose conglomerate. For the most part the banks were straight cut,
of coarse and fine conglomerate, friable sandstone, and in a few places of nummulitic lime-
stone. One of these rivers, the Bolan, is similar in all respects to those described, and led
us into the narrow plain of Dasht, opening on the Quetta Valley. There was a slight but
almost imperceptible ascent up to the Sir-i-Bolan, which is 7,000 feet high, and from this an
equally gentle descent for 2,000 feet into Quetta. Except for four villages on the line of march,
the whole country traversed was a complete desert, and not an inhabitant nor a habitation was
to be seen. Water was scarce in several encampments, and in some dirty and saline and
laxative from the concentration of the salts by evaporation. The heat was intense, and.
numbers of cases of fever occurred from exposure to the sun. Unfortunately the regiment
remained at Quetta, awaiting the arrival of the other forces, during the most unhealthy
month of the year, and suffered, like the other troops in the station, from the terrible
YEAR.
STATION.
PER CENT, OF STRENGTH.
Admissions. Deaths. Daily sick.
1873 . Edwardesabad, Jan.1872 211.4
2 .
6.7
1874 . Ditto . . . 182.5
1.8
5.8
1875 . Kant, Jan. 1875 . . 168.66 1.85
5.17
1876 . Ditto . . . 194.91 1.43
5.9
1877 . Ditto . . . 111.09 1.63
4.03
Average . . 173.71 1.74
5.52
1878 . Rajanpur, Jan. 1878 . 321.74 3.91
10.95