NORTHERN DIVISION OF THE ARMY.
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enclosure, whose perimeter is about six miles. On the west side it runs due north and south,
along the banks of the Saburmuttee river. On the north side it runs eastward, then tends
south-east towards the Premabhoy gate, then southwards a little past the Kalipur gate, bend--
ing inwards, and again it juts out of the gate south of the railway station, running west to
the Astorea gate.
The streets of the city are well lighted with kerosine lamps. The roads are good, though
narrow. The water-supply is ample by wells and a system of cisterns. But the sanitary
arrangements of this large city are very questionable, judging from the vile and mephitic
odours that assail one everywhere, when passing through its byeways.
The main roads, leading from the city to the cantonment, are excellent, being formed-for
the want of stone—by the brick and mortar ruins of Ahmedabad's
Roads how made.
ancient grandeur, which are being gradually cleared away, to give
place to more recent and more humble structures. They are watered up to the boundary line
of the cantonment, morning and evening, to keep them compact ; and they are well shaded by
a fine avenue, two miles in length, of large trees, chief of which are the Ficus Indica,
Azadirachta Indica, Magnifera Indica, Ficus Religiosa, Tamarindicus Indica, and Acacia
Arabica.
The roads within the cantonment are similarly shaded but never watered ; they are
consequently some inches deep in impalpable desiccated dust, which in
Cantonment roads:
the hot months penetrates even the clothes that are worn, and, during
electrical conditions of the atmosphere, is most distressing to respiration. I am not sure that
the constant inhalation of this fine dust for several months in succession is not a grave cause
of many of the lung affections that are observed here.
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The cantonment of Ahmadabad is a large military station, about 312 miles by rail from
Bombay, 90 miles from Deesa, 130 from the hill sanitarium at
Cantonment.
Mount Abu, and 150 from the marine sanitarium of Teetul. It is
the seat of the head-quarters of the Northern Division of the Bombay Army, comprising the
Brigade of Deesa and the stations of Baroda, Rajkot, Bhooj, and Surat. It stands about 320
feet above the level of the sea, and is situate in latitude 23° 18' north, longitude 72° 27' east,
about 3 miles in a north-easterly direction from the city. The extent of the cantonment has
an area of 3 square miles 212 square acres and 3,610 square yards. It is bounded on the
north by the cultivation and fields pertaining to the village of Hursole ; on the east by the
cultivation and grazing ground of the village of Nuroda ; on the south by the city of Ahmeda-
bad, and on the west by the Saburmuttee river. It is altogether very favourably situated
and contains within its area 5,217 inhabitants. The bazar stands to the extreme westward of
the cantonment, on the bank of the Saburmuttee river, and contains 1,883 inhabitants—men
women, and children, consisting of 1,001 males and 882 females, detailed as follows :—Hindoos
1,332, Mahomedans 480, Bhudists 24, Christians 31, and others 16. There are 634 dwellings
and shops of a poor description, being 2.97 or nearly 3 persons to each house. It resembles
other cantonment bazars very closely, and merely adapts itself to the immediate wants of the
residents in camp, and may be considered a poor one. The sanitary state of the bazar may be
said to be satisfactory, although it necessitates constant surveillance to keep it in a clean and
healthy state.
Serjeant Sullivan is very energetic and pains-taking in rendering
Conservancy.
his assistance to this end.
Vaccination is especially attended to amongst the bazar people
Vaccination.
and camp followers, and it has had excellent results. Not one case of
small-pox having occurred during the whole year.
There is no spirit of competition or advancement in any of the dealers residing within its
limits ; all is combination against the foreigner and the native soldier,
Enterprise.
the consequence is that most of the sepoys purchase all they need for
the week in the city bazar on every Friday, which is both the Brigade holiday and market day.
The soil in and around camp is very sandy, but as it gradually extends beyond, it emerges
into a sandy loam, and still further distant into a rich black alluvial
Soil—nature.
deposit which is very fertile. The surface is flat, without marshes or
swamp, is slightly undulating here and there, and well wooded with fine old forest trees.
Cultivation is most abundant around the camp and all over the adjacent country. The
crops are chiefly cereals and oilseeds, jowaree, muth, and bajree with
Crops.
some rice, barley, gram, castor-oil, til, and cotton.
Vegetables of all kinds, including potatoes, are plentiful in certain months of the year, and
Vegetable food
are easily raised ; but during the hot season, when they are most par-ticularly
required, they are scarce or unobtainable, and are so expensive
as to be quite beyond the means of the native soldier. I have no doubt, whatever, that the want