The Press.
London, England, 1855-03-03 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

boxes and parcels went right. I have received at
last every one of the boxes, &c., that have been sent
me, and most acceptable they were.
1 will just mention my dinner last night—l dined
with a captain of ours—just to give you an idea of
how we live in the Crimea now. Carrot soup, turbot
(preserved), couple roast fowls, boiled barn potatoes
and cabbages, " a dog in a blanket ;" after that,
Welsh rabbits and lots of port wine—not so dusty,
was it? Of course, everybody doesn't live quite so
well as this, but I have turned out a first-rate forager,
and always manage to get something good. This
morning I had half a dozen eggs for breakfast, and I
don't believe Lord Raglan himself had that. The
fowls I got by —, from the Algiers; the soup was
made from preserved carrots ; the "dog in the blan-
ket" I made with a pot of marmalade, discovered at
the bottom (which I have just reached) of Fortnum
and Mason's box. To morrow I mount my animal,
and ride to Balakiava to try and get a sheep. Fresh
meat is very scarce, consequently scurvy appears, but
the preserved potatoes and lime juice which are
now served out as a ration will stop all that.
I Lave . been very busy, and shall be till my
mansion is completed. When you get an oppor-
tunity will you send me a pair of winter regi-
mental bags, and tell --- to make them two
inches larger about the body, as I am grown fat, and
also to make them of rough cloth • also a shell jacket,
made very long, so as to come below the hips two or
three inches, with a couple of little pockets outside
like a pea-coat. Now that we are getting better they
are beginning to brush us up, and make us appear in
uniform on parade. Epaulets are no longer to be
worn in action. Here's the end of the paper, so my
best love to all of you.—Your affectionate,

(From a Correspondent at Scutari.)

Scutari, February 12.

The number of patients in the buildings used as
hospitals here is now full 7,000, all under medical
treatment. But these are not all in danger, nor in-
deed very ill. The majority when landed walked
from the shore to the hospital, which is a sharp
ascent here, and at the palace a full mile. All need
rest and food, and medical attendance at first,
but a week hence many will be up and dressed each
day, and in a fortnight, perhaps, many discharged.
When a great increase of sick has come into the
hospital, for a few days every bed will be occupied
all day, but we gladly see day by day the number of
neatly rolled-up beds increase, while their occupants
are chatting or reading by the stoves, or at a comrade's
bedside. In ono ward, perhaps, eight or ten out of
twenty-five or thirty only are in bed, while in the
next only eight or ten, or two or three, are up ; and
the number up or in bed depends mainly upon the
length of time the men have been in, since time,
and warmth, and food, are great restorers of our
poor fellows' weakened frames. But while it is
cheering to see so many up, we do not forget the
many terrible cases of fever and dysentery, and still
more terrible frost bites. A wounded man is now a
rarity here ; and, indeed, it is pleasing to meet with
one, since they listen so eagerly and intelligently to
our words of advice or comfort, compared with the
men reduced by fever, or other diseases.
The walk, late at night, round the vast corriders
here is a sight very striking and very touching. On
either hand some eight hundred beds are placed in
long rows, and all occupied. In the dim light all
look alike, and the groan here, or feeble call there,
remind one painfully of the suffering which many un-
undergo,
and the mind insensibly concludes that all
are suffering equally. To add to the solemnity of
this scene, the only moving persons are a group of
orderlies round a bed where the candle lights up the
pale face of the dying soldier, while, perhaps, the
medical officer devises means to keep body and soul
together, or the chaplain prepares the soul for de-
parture from that worn-out and suffering body.
In the general hospital the number of men up are
about the same, and I think, generally, nearly half
are able to dress each day. In the Palace Hospital
not more than seventy or eighty, out of 400, are in
bed ; and in the hulks not a quarter of the men are
in bed. At Kulleli, which is filling with lately-ar-
rived sick, the number in bed is very large. In
most of the wards all the beds are occupied at the
present time, but here again a few days will make a
of will be and

better appearance than the others. These are all
made after the French model, and are nearly the
same as used by our allies in those admirable hos-
pitals at Vera.
There is a daily improvement here in all sick re-
quisites, and more than was expected has been done
in some three weeks. Room for 500 more will be