104
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OFBOMBAY.
The officers' tents were on the Miri (citadel) and the men were on lower ground. On
the 1st of April the officers and men moved into barracks which they were occupying when
the year closed. On the outbreak of cholera in the cantonment in June last, the men left
barracks and lived under canvas about 600 yards to the north of the barracks. At the same
time the hospital was removed about a mile and a half away from the barracks, in the
direction of the Hanna Pass, to good high ground, very near a flowing stream of clear water
issuing from the Pass. In September the men returned to barracks after the latter had been
thoroughly disinfected and whitewashed. The hospital also was removed into cantonment in
October. The barracks are made of kutcha bricks with mud-plastered walls and roofs. The
men's quarters consist of eight separate blocks facing north and south, in parallel rows of four,
with a passage 22 feet wide between. Between each block there is a space of 50 feet. Each
block is divided into two compartments by a central wall reaching to the roof and has six doors
6 feet X 3 feet and a verandah with twelve arches on either side. There is no communication
between the two divisions. Each division is again sub-divided into two by a massive arch.
Each sub-division is 23 feet long, 9 feet broad, and 10 to 12 feet high, and has one fireplace.
The cubic space of each block, roughly speaking, is about 10,000 cubic feet. There is a small
room at the eastern end of each compartment for a non-commissioned officer. A block
and a half on the southern side are used for the hospital. At the western end of each block
there are separate roomy, well-ventilated quarters with and enclosed backyards for
native officers. At the southern side of the barracks are two sheds with arches for native
followers. The arches are effectually closed against wind by means of mats. The quarter-
guard, dispensary, and hospital assistants' quarters are entirely separate from the men's lines,
and are situated to the north and south of the blocks, respectively. They are roomy with
verandahs and glass-pane windows. The officers' quarters are 500 yards to the south-east
of the lines. Each officer has a roomy house or a set of rooms with the necessary out-houses.
The position of the lines is on very low ground. Seen from the Kakur village, which
lies to the north, the whole cantonment appears to be situated in the basin of the valley.
Coming down from Siriab into the cantonment the descent is notably marked. There is
plenty of open space all round the men's lines; ventilation is therefore as free as it could
possibly be in lines built on the system of parallel rows of blocks. Near the officers'
quarters there is an extensive orchard of mulberries, apricots, and almonds. The ground in
the immediate vicinity of the camp is in a satisfactory state; that at the distance of about
two miles to the north, by sheer force of unavoidable circumstances, is the graveyard of
many a hundred of camels and men. The latter condition requires particular mention on
account of the position of the cantonment on low ground, where in times of rain and snow
water accumulates, or at any rate passes through. The running nullahs under such circum
-stances act as drains of surface water or sub-soil water permeating. the higher burial ground.
3. The conservancy arrangements in the Regiment are carried out by means of sweep-
ers. At one time the dry-earth system was carried out in
trenches dug for latrines. Old trenches were filled up with dry
earth thrown in daily in measured quantity, and new ones dug as the old ones were filled up.
This practice being likely to cover in time a good deal of ground near the lines, was dispensed
with before the close of the year, and a conservancy cart carried away morning and evening
the collected excreta and sweepings of the barracks and hospital. This rubbish is buried
miles away from the cantonment. The stable litter is made over to the P. W. Department
for use in lime-kilns, or is burnt near the stables.
There is no drainage system in Quetta. On either side of several roads in the cantonment
and civil camp there are deep trenches for carrying away surface water. As a rule these are
dry, except when it rains or snows.
Permanent latrines would be a decided advantage if troops are to occupy Quetta for any
length of years. No protection whatever from the inclemencies of winter is possible in
enclosures of mats far removed from barracks and hospital. The inability of the Commis
- s a r i a t D e p a r t m e n t t o p r o c u r e e a r t h e ng
u m l a h s
a n d b a s k e t s h e r e h a s i n t e r f e r e d g r e a t l y w i t h
the conservancy arrangements of the hospital.
4. Water is abundant in running streams and nullahs, which come down from the sur-
rounding hills. Between the Kakur village and the lines there is
a " karez " (subterranean water-course) running from south-east
to north-west. There is a well 30 feet deep near the quarter-guard, from which several men
in the lines draw their water, which though muddy is sweet, and clears on standing. This.
water is safer to a certain extent than the running water from surface nullahs as being
less liable to contamination. The officers and others who do not object to the bhistee's water
are supplied with it from a flowing spring issuing from the ground on the south-eastern
side of the officers' quarters.
To all external appearance the water is clear, crystal, and sweet. Whence the springs,
which are perennial, derive their origin it is not possible to determine. As it flows, it has all
Conservancy.
Water-supply.