Ahmadabad.
British Rule
Architecture.
86
SKETCH OF THE MEDICAL HISTORY OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BOMBAY.
7. The lines are clean, well built, and well kept, but would be improved greatly by
having roof ventilation, like those occupied by the 9th Regiment
Bombay N. I. in this station.
8. Water is abundant and good, obtained from the river Saburmuttee and wells in the
lines. I would suggest that these wells should be thoroughly cleaned
out at the end of every hot season.
9. The new latrines are in my opinion revolting to every man having the slightest sense
of decency. In the regiment they avoid them to my knowledge
when they can do so, going beyond cantonment limits when they
have occasion for their use, rather than suffer the inevitable exposure. Those of the females
are too near those of the males, and the remarks as to those of the males, are equally applicable
to those of the females, with regard to their indecency. There are excellent latrines, now
disused and closed up by order, that could easily be made available for the Dry-earth con-
servancy system, and be convenient in every way.
10. The hospital accommodation is excellent as far as it goes. There is great want of a
deadhouse, which would serve for both regiments, a female ward, and a
separate ward for contagious diseases. The hospital assistants have
no privy for their families and no cookroom.
11. The camp bazar is good and well supplied with ordinary articles required by the
troops; most of the men, however, prefer to get their supplies from
the city bazar, where they can obtain them of better quality and
cheaper. Native and Europe vegetables are to be obtained, in both bazars, of good quality
and at a reasonable price. Fish can also be obtained of good quality.
H. M.'S 9TH REGIMENT N.I.
AHMEDABAD.—In Medical Charge of Surgeon R. BOUSTEAD, F.R.C.S.; Strength 472.
Ahmadabad, formerly the capital of the Guzerat kings down to
the time of the Emperor Ackbar, A.D. 1580, has been under British
protection and rule since the fall of the Peishwa in A.D. 1818. It
was at one time the most splendid city in India, counting its thousand
stone musjeeds, each with two minarets—the architectural gem of which
is the Ranee-Sipri-ki-Musjeed, though the more imposing Jama Mus -
jeed, with 260 columns and 15 domes, is still considered by many the most beautiful in India.
It had its magnificent palaces, fountains, courts of justice, caravansaries, Hindoo temples,
and the still beautiful ornate and sunken shrines of the Jains, many of which are still in
existence, and the ruins of others can be still inspected. The city is
built on the banks of the Saburmuttee river, outside the fortress
and arsenal, and extends thence in a north-easterly direction towards camp, about 2½ miles in
the irregular and crowded manner characteristic of eastern cities. It contains a population,
according to the last census, 1872, of 111,680 souls, consisting of 55,626 males and 56,054
females of all classes, the details of which are as follows:—
Total.
Hindoos . . .
Males . . .
37,874
7 5 , 8 9 6
F e m a l e s . . .
38,022
Mahomedans . . .
Males . . .
11,753
Females . . .
11,672
23,425
Bhudists . . .
Males . . .
5,546
Females . . .
6,050
11,596
Christians . . .
M a l e s . . .
1 7 0
Females . . .
94
264
Others . . .
Males . . .
283
Females . . .
216
499
and 33,663 houses, or about 3.3 inhabitants to each house. The city is surrounded by a
wall, at least 16 feet high and six feet in thickness, built of burnt bricks and lime mortar.
At about every eighty or one hundred yards along this wall, there are bastions and towers,
some of which are guarded by native troops. The wall constitutes an irregular, semi-circular
Lines.
Water.
Latrines.
Hospital.
Bazar.
Situation.