63
POONA DIVISION OF THE ARMY.
but drinking. Swimming has been recommended as a good, healthful exercise, developing
the muscles, and at the same time cleansing the body; and I am glad to state it is resorted
to by several of the men.
4. The lines being built on the slope of the ground there is excellent surface drainage,
the water in the monsoon being conveyed by a ditch into fields
below the two tanks before mentioned.
Drainage.
Effects on Climate.
5. The above topographical conditions exercise a favour
-able influence on the climate.
6. The lines of this regiment have been completed during the past year, having been
built by the regiment in about two years. They are built, I
am informed, on the standard plan and space, and are all that
a Native regiment can require. They are well and substantially built, and the strictest super
-
vision has been exercised by all the European officers, from the commandant downwards.
They face towards the north-east. The prevailing wind being from N. E. and S.
W. at different seasons of the year there is a fee current of air continually passing through
them. There are 32 blocks for the non-commissioned rank and file; each is really a
double row of huts, being divided into two rows dwellings by a central well which supports
the roof. Before each hut there is a small garden plot, which is cultivated according to the taste
of the occupant. On each flank of the lines there are 8 houses for the Native officers, with
gardens to their flanks, in which plantains, &c., are grown. The following are the dimensions
of the dwellings of the different ranks:—The Native officers' houses are 35 feet square; they
are divided inside into two or more rooms; the height of them at the eaves is 6 feet. Non
-
commissioned officers' dwellings are 12 feet×10 feet, with a verandah 12 feet×4½ feet;
privates' dwellings (married) are 10 feet square, with a verandah 10 feet×4½ feet; privates'
dwellings (unmarried) are 10 feet×9 feet, with a verandah 9 feet×4½ feet. The height
of the walls of the pendalls is as follows:—the central walls is 16 feet, the outer wall of the
dwelling 10 feet, the verandah wall 6 feet. The thickness of the walls is as follows:—the
central one is 2 feet, the outer one 1½ feet, and the verandah one 9 inches. The street running
from front of lines to their rear, between Native officers' houses and the pendalls, is 30 feet
wide; there is a space of 30 feet between the pendalls, excepting the centre street, which is
160 feet; there is a space of 65 feet between each row of pendalls, excepting the cross
centre street, which is 110 feet. There are holes in the walls; but I imagine they are
generally kept very carefully closed, so that it is scarcely
necessary to mention them. The foul air escapes through the
roof, which is a single-tiled one.
The regimental bazaar is situated a short distance to the rear of the lines, and at present
consists of 12 shops. There are no villages within about 1
mile of the lines. There are, as I have before stated, two tanks in
the cantonment; at a distance of about ¾ of a mile there is the very fine tank at Keilgherry.
7. The conservancy arrangements might be better: the present staff of sweepers is not
sufficient to dig out and fill in the trenches thoroughly. The
trenches are made in accordance with instructions received
from the Quarter Master General's Office; they have bamboo
screens, are 40 feet long, 1 foot 4 inches deep, and 9 inches wide. The lines are swept
very carefully every morning, and any exuberant vegetation is removed as soon as it appears.
The neatness, good order, and cleanliness of the lines and bazaar are very satisfactory.
8. The food chiefly used by the sepoy is abundant, cheap, and of good quality. The
highest rate paid by Government to sepoys for dearness of
provisions during the year has been 13 annas and 10 pies; the
lowest rate was 3 annas and 4 pies. This is probably the best
test of the dearness or cheapness of provisions.
9. Although so much has been done for the European soldier in the matter of dress,
the sepoy still suffers the martyrdom of the close-fitting cloth
tunic. This is not the only objectionable article of dress; the
trowsers also, but more especially the hard-leather boots, cannot be too strongly condemned.
The boots, badly made after the European fashion, have no pretensions to fit the foot, and
are the cause of many, if not most, of the ulcers on the foot one meets with in a Native
regimental hospital. On the line of march, but more particularly on service in the
field, when the sepoy has little time to soften the leather, they are the cause of very many
men falling out, going to hospital, and being unfit for duty for some days. It has been
suggested that sepoys should wear socks—a very good suggestion if the use of these boots
is to be continued, but the sepoy cannot afford to purchase them from his present pay. The
dress of the Belooch regiments is, in my opinion, much more suitable to the sepoy, and those
who have seen it prefer that worn by the Punjab Native infantry. If the uniform of
the European is to be worn by the sepoy, then let him have the loose patrol jacket: the
Lines.
Ventilation.
Bazaar.
Conservancy and Sanitary
Arrangements.
Food, Quality of, and whether
abundant and cheap.
Clothing.