PRESIDENCY DIVISION, ADEN, AND BOMBAY MARINE.
7
1. The Regiment has been stationed at Aden during the year, furnishing a detachment
of 50 men to the outpost on Perim island, which was relieved
every two months.
2. The Native Infantry lines at Aden are situated in the lowest part of the Crater
position, surrounded by hills and shut off from the influence of
any sea breezes which may prevail. They are divided into two
portions, which are separated from each other by the European officers' quarters and Mess
house. Those on the south side are occupied by the unmarried men, and consist of six
parallel rows, separated from each other by longitudinal and sub-divided by three cross streets
into four pendals each. The twenty-four pendals thus formed are again sub-divided by a
wall running through the centre of each. Each pendal has a superficial area of 1,452 square
feet and a cubic space of 14,157 cubic feet. They are intended to accommodate 22 men,
11 in each room. The average cubic space to each man, after deducting all encroachments,
is about 600 cubic feet, and the superficial area 65 square feet. The streets are very narrow,
the longitudinal ones being only 13 feet from verandah to verandah, and the cross ones 17
feet from house to house.
The married quarters consist of six pendals divided into 14 rooms each, and having the
verandahs walled up to a certain height. Each room has a cubic space (exclusive of verandah)
of 900 cubic feet, and a superficial area of 90 square feet. The verandahs are walled in,
contain a bathing place, and have a superficial area of about 70 square feet each. The
maximum number of occupants in the single men's rooms amounted to not more than eleven
at any time during the year. I cannot speak positively about the married men's quarters, but
I know there was no overcrowding.
The ventilation of the lines is carried on by openings in the front walls above the
verandah roof, of considerable size, and protected by bamboo trellis work, by covered venti
-lators at the ridge, and by fourteen oblong shaped openings at either end of the pendals.
There is no defect in the amount of space allowed for ventilation; but the situation of the
lines, with their narrow streets. and low and chunamed roofs, renders them close and
unbearable in the hot weather. The bathing places alluded to as existing in the verandahs
of the married men's houses, were the subject of much discussion towards the end of the
year, as a very suspicious case of fever, supposed to be typhoid, was admitted from the family
lines. On inspecting the house from which the patient was admitted, a bathing place was
found in the verandah, which sloped outwards, and discharged its contents by a small drain
into a covered cesspit placed immediately outside the outer wall of the house, in the open street.
The effluvia from the cess-pit of . course found its way into the house, and as a consequence
the inmates were living in an atmosphere polluted to a great extent. When on enquiry it
was ascertained that these places were used for all the purposes of nature by the women and
children, the foul smell emanating from them was easily accounted for. On my recommend
-ation the cess-pits were dug out, and all the polluted and saturated soil removed and replac
-ed by fresh earth. The drains now open on the free surface of the streets, over which the
refuse water add other fluids are allowed to flow, pending some permanent arrangement for
their disposal. Several remedies have been suggested for the removal of this dangerous
nuisance, such as providing conservancy pans for the married men's houses, or making
permanent masonry drains along the lines to carry off all fluids, or sinking receptacles in the
streets, into which the bathing places could drain, and which could be emptied daily by
sweepers; but none of these recommendations have been carried out, as their adoption
would entail a certain amount of expense, which the authorities do not seem disposed to
sanction at present.
3. There are three permanent latrines in use, and of these, one is allotted to the
women. They are situated about three hundred yards from
the lines, from which they are separated by the main road
through the Crater position. They were noticed as defective in construction by the Deputy
Surgeön General at his annual inspection, and also by me in my sanitary sheet of the
Regiment for 1878; the defect complained of being that there is no means of carrying off the
fluid excreta and washings, which do not fall into the privy pans. The stone pavement in
front and rear of the seats is on a dead level, and as a consequence, the fluids remain
stagnant on it, until a sufficient quantity collects to cause an overflow, when it trickles down
the hill side towards the main road. This state of affairs gives rise to a foul smell,
which in the hot months nothing can prevent, and which is very dangerous
to the general health, and highly disagreeable, being so close to the main thoroughfare
through camp. The state of these latrines has, I understand, been several times brought to
notice by the Deputy Surgeon General, and a long correspondence on the subject with the
authorities has also taken place, but no change or improvement seems to have resulted from
either. A very moderate expenditure of public money would, in my opinion, remedy the
evil. The stone pavement should be sloped from before backwards, and a water-tight drain
of the same material carried along its posterior edge, to a small tank at one or either end,
Location and movements.
Lines and their surroundings.
Conservancy.