22
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BOMBAY.
left Vingorla on the 28th November and arrived at Ahmedabad on the 2nd and 3rd Decem-
ber. The two detachments, consisting of five companies, composed the head-quarters
detachment which left Ahmedabad on the 9th December, reaching Deesa on the 18th idem
and Pallee on the 1st January, and finally arriving at Nusseerabad on the 14th January 1879.
The roads were very heavy, the soil sandy, the drinking water more or less brackish; the
food supply in most places limited in quantity and inferior in quality, and the weather
extremely cold, the temperature ranging frequently in the morning between 34° and 50° F.
In consequence of which, towards the latter part of the march several men took ill with fever
and pneumonic affections, of whom two died on the line of march and four in the hospital
at Nusseerabad, where they were sent by rail; but these casualties having occurred in
January 1879, are not included in the accompanying returns. The last detachment, consist-
ing of three companies, left Vingorla on the 9th December, and following the same route via
Bombay, Ahmedabad, Deesa, Sirolee, and Pallee, reached Nusseerabad on the 25th January
1 8 7 9 .
The second detachment left one native officer sick at the Marine Battalion Hospital,
Bombay, and one havildar at Ahmedabad. The third detachment left five sick at Ahmedabad
(one of whom died subsequently) and eleven at Deesa, for treatment, the men being unable
to march, making in all eighteen sick left behind for treatment and seven deaths. On the
whole, the long march, in consequence of the great privations to which the men had been
subjected, has not had the same salutary effect on the men's health as short marches generally
have. The head-quarters detachment were in tents for two months and three days, while
the last detachment were two months and fourteen days. The sanitary arrangements were
carried out as satisfactorily as possible. Surgeon Bull came in charge of the last detach-
ment, which he joined on the 19th December.
2. In my last annual report I had the honour to notice (at nacre 39 of the Medical
The lines and their surround
ings; present condition, hygienic
and otherwise.
and Sanitary Report of the Native Army of Bombay for 1877)
that a good portion of the ground between the lines and the
Khanapur road used for rice cultivation was under water for
several months during the monsoon, and to this cause a good
deal of the malarious fever may be attributed. In consequence of a bund having been b uilt
since across this piece of low ground close to the Khanapur road, the rain water reached this
year quite up to the foundation of the latrines, and this interfered with the drainage from
the lines, causing thereby the floors of a good many of the huts to be damp, and increased
the number of fever cases, as will be seen under para. 10. But on the sluice being opened,
with the subsidence of water, the fever cases also went down.
Conservancy.
Water supply.
3. The latrines have been repaired.
4. Good; same as last year.
Food.
5. The supply has improved although a good deal of the grain was damaged.
by an untimely fall of rain last year- before the harvest
was in.
Duties, exercise, amusements ;
their effect on health.
6. Same as last year. The men had on an average 4 4/5
nights in bed, and their duties, exercises and amusements had
on the whole a salutary effect upon the men's health.
7. The hospital and its surroundings have been very clean. The latrines were put into
Hospital and its immediate
surroundings; present condition,
hygienic and otherwise.
repair. In consequence of the large number a cases treated
in hospital, the excess over 20 patients for whom there is
accommodation in the ward had to be treated in the verandah
when fever was prevailing.
8. In consequence of an improvement in the grain supply, the health of the men
General health and physique.
improved considerably during the latter part of the year's stay
in Belgaum, and there was very little scurvy visible among
them, which they had contracted in Aden.
9. This year there was an unusually heavy fall of rain, amounting to 55.85 inches up
Influences of climate or local
circumstances.
to 11th November, in consequence of which there has been a
good deal of fever both in Belgaum and the surrounding dis
tricts. There was slight cholera towards the early part of the
year only, but it completely disappeared after the seasonable fall of rain.
10. From 1st January to 31st October, for a period of ten months while the Regiment
was stationed in Belgaum, there were 376 admissions, and with the 15 remained from last year' s returns, there were altogether
Details of treated.
391 treated. In November and December there were 75 admissions in the head-quarters
hospital and 57 in the detachment hospital; so that in all there were 523 treated against 375