97
CABUL EXPEDITION.
bearers with a detachment were admitted into hospital, suffering from frost-bite in a more
or less degree after three marches through snow, Government being thus put to the
expense of paying and feeding these men, who are laid up for months, which a very small
expenditure in the beginning would have avoided.
3. Mostly employed on escort duty, conveying stores, &c., from Jacobabad to
Quetta, and furnishing the guards at the different posts in Kutchee and
the Bolan Pass. About 300 men were employed in connection
with the rest of the brigade in making the road through the Bolan, and opening up the
surrounding country. The work the men have had to do has been very severe, more
especially those on escort and at the small stations, where they had to do sentry duty
daily: in fact the average nights in bed have been less than two per week during the year
(for the whole Regiment). This amount of work in connection with the indifferent food they
obtained has naturally rendered the Regiment very sickly, and the mortality has been very
great, though not so large as many of the regiments on this campaign.
4. The physique of the Regiment itself is good, but unfortunately when proceeding on
service 238 volunteers from other regiments were sent to make
it up to a war footing. Of these some 50 were of very inferior
physique, and quite unfitted for active service, and have, in fact, spent the greater part of the
year in hospital and have been a very large factor in the number of admissions. The health
of the Regiment has been bad, owing, as stated above, to the hard work and bad food, but has
m u c h i m p r o v e d d u r i n g t h e l a s t t h r e e m o n t h s , s i n c e t h e w o r k h a s b e e n l i g h t e r a n d t h e q u a l i t y
of the rations improved. It is now, taken as a whole, in very fair condition, and if a fair
supply of vegetables are obtainable in the spring, will most probably quite recover from the
hardships of last year.
5. The climate in the upper part of the Bolan is good, but at Mach below, the heat
from April to October is intense, and is very trying to men
obliged to live in tents. Since October the weather has been
quite European.
Duties and exercise.
General health and physique.
Influence of climate or local
circumstances on health.
6. Intermittent fever has naturally given the largest number of admissions, namely,
1,117; remittent fever shows 20, and tertian and quartan ague
2 and 5 respectively. Scurvy and its concomitants, ulcers, and
Sind boils come next on the list with 242. Then dysentery, from which there have been 172
admissions and 9 deaths, and simple diarrhœa 128, with 4 deaths. Affections of the lungs
have not been very prevalent. Acute bronchitis has given 18 admissions and chronic 17;
pneumonia and pleurisy 10, of which 7 have been fatal, and usually very rapidly, other admis
- s i o n s u n d e r t h i s c l a s s b e i n g o n l y 2 .
Syphilis and gonorrhœa during the early part of the year, whilst the Regiment was in
Sind, gave a good number of admissions, but since May there has not been a case, there
being no opportunity for men to contract either. Primary syphilis gave 23 admissions, secon
-dary 5, gonorrhœa 2, rheumatism 5, and iritis 1.
Affections of the eye have been rare, there being only six cases of conjunctivitis and two
of ulcer of the cornea. Five cases of nyctalopia were admitted, but of these four were proved
to be malingerers, and were punished accordingly. Contusions and sprains, &c., gave 95
admissions, which is not very great, considering the amount of manual labour on the roads
and buildings at the different stages. There were 7 admissions under the head of nervous
affections; 3 of these were, however, caused by one man having been treated, first for para
-plegia and afterwards twice for locomotory ataxy, who will be discharged. Rheumatism
and lumbago gave 34 admissions.
These figures do not in any way show the real number of men who have been sick during
the year, as owing to the immense number of small detach
-ments, of twelve and six men, it was impossible to find out
who were sick or not, so that this return has been compiled from the records at head-quar
- t e r s a n d o n e o r t w o l a r g e d e t a c h m e n t s w h i c h w e r e u n d e r t h e c a r e o f m e d i c a l s u b o r d i n a t e s .
7. The mortality has been very large, namely, 47. Of these 10 were from cholera, 7
from pneumonia and pleurisy, 9 from dysentery, 4 from diarrhœa,
4 from remittent fever, 4 from intermittent fever, 6 from general
debility and anæmia, 1 from scurvy, 1 with ulcer, and 1 drowned whilst bathing. Of these
deaths only 11 were at head-quarters, the others being either at the depôt or with detach
- m e n t s , m a n y o f t h e s e l a t t e r n o t h i n g b e i n g k n o w n o f t h e m e n h a v i n g b e e n i l l u n t i l t h e d e a t h
report arrived.
8. Cholera broke out in Dadur about the end of May, having evidently been carried by
pilgrims from the great Hurdwar Fair, as its progress could be
traced from Sukkur shortly after the breaking out of the disease
there. No record of the number of men attacked with the detachment then could be obtained,
Details of treated.
Details of treated.
Mortality, and its causes.
Epidemics.
Y