Duty and
employment.
Exercise,
amusements
and occupa
-tion.
62
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BENGAL.
Marches and
service.
Hospital.
and thus far their clothing answers well. A new boot, or rather shoe, is being introduced
resembling an ordinary slipper with a thick sole. The boot question in this corps is import
-ant, as one great point in their efficiency is their marching power. Whilst on duty in the
district, the men are allowed to march bare-foot and in their dhoties.
XI. Duty and employment.— The duty the corps performs is fairly heavy, the guard duty
in the district adding to it considerably. Colonel Gordon has remarked upon this question in
the report for 1874.
XII. Exercise, amusements and occupation.— At gardening many of the Bheels are clever,
the ground being laid out with great nicety and kept in fine order; but it is little practised by the
men of the corps, who, however, generally go to their homes in the leave season to attend to
their fields. They are clever shikaris, and take much interest in sport. The men take
much walking exercise, their homes being mostly within seven or eight miles, so that they are
constantly visiting them. At walking, Bheels greatly excel; and taking into account the dis
-tances they walk, and the very hilly character of the tracks, the character of their diet does
not seem suitable to the work they do. Their principal amusements are ram-fighting,
partridge-fighting, wrestling, and foot-ball.
XI I I . Ma r c he s a nd s e r vi c e . —A s s t a t e d i n p a r a g r a p h
I I ,
a d e t a c h m e n t w a s s e n t t o M a n d w a
Bakhil, about 66 miles north-west of this station, in March, to put down the practice of witch
-swinging. The practice was to hang up a woman by the ankles to a tree, and to swing her in
that position for some time, pepper being placed within and over the eyes. A goat was then
sacrificed and the bloód offered to the suspected woman, who, after a longer or shorter time,
was either killed or released. The ringleaders were not captured, but promises have been
made to give them up. This detachment reached head-quarters again on May 5th. The
company which left here in November for Delhi viâ Kishengarh reached the latter place, all
well, after an average march of 18 miles per day.
XIV. Hospital.— The hospital !mulcting itself has been previously described in Surgeon
-Major Dickson's report for 1874. Since that time a part of the verandah has been made
into a small room for the purposes of dispensing. A want much felt in the hospital is a method
of warming it otherwise than by closing the doors and shutters. The building itself, with a
simple tile roof and chunam floor, is very cold in the winter season.
Sickness,
mortality and
invaliding.
XV.—Sickness, mortality and invaliding.— Strength of the regiment—
Present
.
.
.
484.5
Absent
.
.
.
225.8
Total . . .
710.3
STATION.
PERIOD.
Strength.
TOTAL NUMBER
OF
Daily
average
number
of sick.
PER CENT OF STRENGTH
PER ANNUM.
From
To
Admis-
sions. Deaths.
A d m i s -
sions. Deaths.
Daily
average
sick.
Head-quarters at Kherwara 1st Jan. 1876 . . . 31st Dec. 1876
306.1
417
1
12.4 136.23 .32
4.05
Detachment at Kotra . . . Ditto . . . Ditto . . .
118.4
245
2
7
206.85 1.68
5.91
Ditto at Udepur . . . Ditto . . . Ditto . . .
60
46
. . .
1.1 76.66 . . .
1.83
T O T A L . . .
. . .
. . . 484.5
708
3
20.5 146.13
.62
4.23
Number of deaths in hospital 3; out of hospital 3 ; total 6 ; per cent of total strength . . .
.84
" invalided . . . 8 ; "
" . . .
1.12
" sent on sick leave . . . 4 ; " " . . .
.56
" of days spent in hospital 7,523; per admission . . . 10.62; per man of total strength . . .
10.59
" " on sick leave 60; per man . . . 15 ; " " . . .
.08
Total temporary loss of service per man of total strength . . .
10.67
Principal
causes of
sickness.
Principal
causes of
mortality.
XVI. Principal causes of sickness.— Quotidian ague gives 167 admissions, as compared
with 114 of last year. Guinea-worm also, with 114, shows a considerable increase; while 120
cases of itch and 76 cases of abscess are the other most noticeable features of the returns.
Why so much fever should occur is not quite plain, beyond the probability of the alteration of
the river's bed having some connection with it. The rainfall of last year was heavier than
that of this, and was also more extended as to time, with consequently a longer period of drying
up. The new tank has probably only good effects on the health of the station, and more freely
used, should keep down the itch so prevalent among the men. Bheels are naturally extremely
dirty in every way, and the men probably contract most of the itch while at their homes. The
large number of abscesses is the chief item of a class of admissions, including contusions, &c.,
which are to 'be attributed to jungle life, and the tendency .of all small injuries among the
Bheels to heal unkindly.
XVII. Principal causes of mortality.— Out of 6 deaths, 3 took place away from head-
-quarters, and the cause of death is not known ; while the 3 other deaths were, one from encepha
- l i t i s , o n e f r o m s u n s t r o k e , a n d . o n e , v e r y s u d d e n l y , f r o m q u o t i d i a n a g u e . T h e c a s e o f a g u e w a s