The Express.
London, England, 1855-02-17 00:00:00

THE ARMY BEFORE SEBASTOPOL.

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CAMP. LIGHT DIVISION, Firs. 2.
We have been favoured with a ccottinuance of genial
generally been frosty, but the run and mild tem
tars on the succeeding days have speedily thawed
soadition of climate has been accompanied with a
eaeresponding improvement in the health and spirits
of the men. What is chiefly required at this moment
it an opportunity of removing the sick, who have
accumulated in large numbers in the field hospitals.
The hospital marquees and tents, and huts, of which
nearly every regiment now possesses one completed
and occupied, are full of soldiers labouring under
scorbutic and dysenteric diseases, and son feet
from frost bites. Many men are losing toes or por.
dais of the feet. All these cases urgently require
removal for the sake of better treatmeat than can be
obtained in the camp, but 'there is a great want o
arrangement aboutestablishments, whether on shore or
shipboard, to receive the sick at Balaklava; and there
is great difficulty in obtaining ambulance mules or
waggons to convey them there.
The number of huts in course of erection is
gradually on the increase. The Quartermaster-
General's Department has not, however, yet bean
able to assist in transporting them to the camp. The
huts are of two kinds—the Portsmouth and Glou-
cester huts. I don't know which may be the more
perfect in construction es an engineering work and
in stability, but from the peculiar circumstances
under which they are brought up to camp, in
ease of high wind or severely cold weather the
Gloucester would have many advantages over the
Portsmouth hut. The chief difference seems to be
owing to the circumstance that, in the former, all
the boards—roof, sides, and sleeping boards—are
placed vertically, while in the Portsmouth hut they
have a horizontal direction. A greater number of
planks is of course required to construct a hut with
the planking placed vertically, bat they are neces-
sarily much shorter, and are therefore more portable.
In carrying up to camp the long horizontal planking,
which is feather-edged and inconvenient for con-
veyance in consequence of the length, the men
become tired, and may often be seen drag-
ging it along the ground. The boards are
equally liable to be dragged when carried
by the aide of a horse or mule. They then fre-
quently split, and through the crevice thus made
snow and wind find their way. The horizontal
planks are made to overlap each other, but they
cannot be joined so closely but some crevice
will remain. On the contrary, in the Gloucester
' huts, the vertical boards are placed edge to edge, and
the line of joining is covered over securely by
battens. No wind can then penetrate. The short-
ness of the planks not only renders them more easily
curled by men or horses but also, together with
their equal thickness throughout, makes them leas
liable to straining or other injury. The double-
sliding window of the Gloucester hut is also found to
answer better than the window in the other hut,
which turns on a pivot. The prevailing belief in
camp is, from the difficulty and length of time in
bringing the huts up, that very few, beyond what
will be required for the hospitals, will be erected.
The want of transport has evidently put them out
of favour with the. authorities, by whom they are
reported to be cold, and as not having stability in
themselves to withstand a high wind. By a little
arrangement, such as banking up the earth
against their sides, from the general connexion of
the parts, I have no doubt that nothing short
of a hurricane could remove them. They
are at least as secure as the wooden houses inhabited
by the coloured population in South America
and the Antilles, and afford means of dryness,
warmth, cleanliness, and protection against severe
inclemency or vicissitudes of weather, which cannot
be obtained in tents. Many of the inconveniences
before mentioned of the Portsmouth huts can be coun-
teracted by the exercise of a little ingenuity and
exertion, with the aid of ins% paper, and canvas.
Would that the troops had had the advantage of their
use early in December instead of February ! None
of the huts appropriated to the officers have yet
arrived.
Should the huts become fixed, and the regiments
remain long in their present position, a more serious
consideration will arise from the great number of
horses and men who have been buried in the imme-
diate neighbourhood of the encampment, and, gene-
rally speaking, very superficially. In the ravine
leading from the site of the Second Division down to
the Inkermann Valley, between the first picket and
the quarries near the aqueduct, I counted upwards
at 170 hones lying unburied, which were removed
titre after the battle of the fith of November; and
these hash never since been covered by earth. The
Rabaul dead, who were buried in this ravine and
neighbourhood by the Ottoman troops, were buried
very haitily, and scarcely hid from exposure. The
careseeeof horses scattered in all directions between
the camp and Balaklava, or very loosely sprinkled
over by earth, are beyond counting. The graves
along some of the ravines before !Sebastopol
present themselves in fearful frequency. Add
to these the offal of slaughtered cattle, and refuse
of all kinds, and the return of warm weather,
may be looked forward to with some anxiety on
account of the pollution of the atmosphere which
may accompany it. It is fortunate that so free a
circulation of air prevails on these heights. Since
the snow fell then have been some large vultures
hovering over the camp, and flights of crows and a
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On walking through the British part of the camp, it
is impossible not to have the attention called to the
immense number of articles of uniform and debris of
dress and appointments which lie scattered about.
Boots, many apparently broken but not much worn,
shakos,
scrapskos,port of cloth of every colour, portions ofveryfadedduoollre4 coaportteescons
old
socks, of,
belts and straps, meet the eye in all directions. 010
may notice the difference in the internal economy of
various regiments by the distribution of these articles.
In some they are to be seen gathered in heaps or in
pits set apart for the purpose; in others lying in all
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certain intervals all rubbish which might tor:omelets
in the neighbourhood of the tents. Among other
things cast away and lying on the ground, it would
surprise a stranger to perceive such useful arti-
cles as bogs and sacks—which, from the broad
arrow, have evidently belonged to the commissariat
or other public departments; and there is no
inconsiderable number of the flannel vests and
drawers lately sent from England, and issued
to the troops. I turned over and examined
some, and beyond being soiled, could find no reason
for their being thus rejected by their owners. A
little conversation soon cleared up the mystery. From
a combination of circumstance, these flannels thus
thrown away have become so infested with vermin,
that the soldiers who were wearing them, not having
the means or the energy otherwise to escape from the
living nuisance, have solved the difficulty by casting
them aside, flannel and all together. Ocular exami-
nation exhibited the remains of myriads of these
insects, which from being nearly of the same colour
as the woollen texture, were not observable until the
attention was called to their existence. From the
delay and difficulty in bringing up the warm cloth-
ing, one set of woollens only could for a long time
be issued to each soldier—he had, therefore, no