xvi
methods of travel and have become charcoal-burners, or tillers of the soil, but
certainly no longer bearers. A large proportion were so reduced by fever, and
weak from want, that they fell an early prey to sickness themselves. It is,
however, their due that a kindly word should be said of the performance of
their duty to the best of their ability ; in many instances it amounted almost
to devotion ; many of them were cruelly murdered by the enemy ; they were
too often neglected in the ordinary necessaries of life, shelter, food, pay, warmth,
and clothes, and were always under requisition for work. The intentions of
Government towards them were most benevolent ; their value was fully recog
-nised, and their nominal pay most liberal ; but they had no organization ; they
were continually being shuffled and lost sight of, and the strong and the weak
inextricably confused for an equal burden. The medical officers in the field are
unanimous in suggesting that some definite plans of drill and discipline should
be substituted for the present unmilitary state of affairs, and I cannot better
illustrate the individual energy and intelligence of regimental surgeons than
by copying the following extracts from the narrative of the march of the 15th
Loodhiana Sikhs from Sealkote to Kandahar by Surgeon-Major R. W. Cun
-ningham, M.D., an officer of distinguished good service :—
12. " Organization of doolie-bearers.— During the halt at Sukkur the doolie-bearers were
drilled by the Havildar of the regiment under direction of Surgeon Stephens. They were
marched out morning and evening, taught to move in single file and, instead of crowding the
doolies together, as is their natural tendency, to separate into complements of wings and com
-panies, &c. The instructions I sent to Dr. Stephens were most carefully carried out, and when
I rejoined the regiment on 28th November, I found the doolie-bearers an organized and
orderly body of men. They were organized on the
f o l l o w i n g r u l e s .
" 1st.—Twenty-four bearers, with 6 dandies, will be attached to the head-quarter's hospital.
" 2nd.—Half the remainder will be allotted to each wing of the regiment under a sirdar.
" " " 3rd.—One mate and 22 bearers, 1 doolie, 2 Looshai doolies, and 2 dandies will be allotted
to each company.
" 4th —The complement for each company will thus exactly fill one lascar-pâl, and the 24
men reserved for the head-quarter's hospital will fill the 9th pâl.
" 5th.—Doolies and dandies to be numbered according to companies, thus A/1, A/2, &c., and un-
less when required as beds for sick ought to be packed in order of numbers and
companies in front of the hospital tents.
" 6th.—The sirdars will report daily to the medical officer at his visit to the hospital the
condition of his charge, bringing to notice any damage to doolies, any sickness
or misconduct on the part of the bearers, &c.
" 7th.—A nominal roll should be prepared with columns for entry of all issues of clothing
and pay, and for remarks on casualties, &c.
" 8th.—All money payments will be made in presence of the medical officers."
It is earnestly believed that in no department could economy and efficiency
combined be more safely promised than by a reform of the army dooly system.
39. As for the doolies their use should be reduced as much as possible, and
restricted to posts on the lines of communication for the transport of convoys
to and from the base, the immense train of doolies, dandies, and followers are
wholly out of place in a country like Afghanistan. The discomfort to the
patients in the rapid streams and dreary defiles, the danger of a block in the
route which may precipitate a catastrophe to the wounded, and the necessity
of feeding eight followers for each man who is wounded are all painfully
obvious. The proportion of this carriage should be limited strictly to cases
such as fracture, which totally incapacitate a man for moving. For the rest
(in the field only) stretchers and beasts of burden should suffice, the latter
fitted with a cacolet, or swinging chair. Of the various kinds of doolie which
have accompanied the army, the Dickens' Looshai doolie is considered the
most serviceable ; but it should have a water-proof sheet fitted to it. The
carpet dandy is objectionable. In the field, whenever it is required as a stretcher
for a really helpless man, it is almost impossible to place him in it ; it sways
when moving, so that the patient is in constant danger of striking his wounded
limb against rocks ; there is no shelter from sun or rain ; the occupant has to
seize the pole in fear of being swung out, and this often happens in spite of
all his care to avoid it ; and he may be set down in the dark in a running
stream or a bank of dust, or rudely bumped on a stone.
40. In Table No. XI is given the comparative prevalence of the diseases
which occasion admissions into hospital. Fevers, by which is understood
malarious agues in an enormously large proportion, occupy so prominent a
figure that every other disease is absolutely insignificant, the ratio per cent.