246 SIR WILLIAM FLOWER 



landed, but I believe they were shipped again, as I saw or 

 heard nothing of them again till some time after we reached 

 Balaclava. 



Just before we marched the surgeon procured, with great 

 difficulty, and by mere chance, an araba waggon, which was of 

 some assistance. On the second day's march we fell in with 

 some commissariat waggons of another division that had missed 

 their way, and we pressed them into our service ; there were six 

 or seven, mostly empty. These were barely sufficient for carrying 

 our sick, and we lost them after the battle of Alma, and then 

 were reduced to the original waggon. 



At the end of every day's march those men who were unable 

 to proceed were sent on board ship. During the march those 

 who could not get on and we had no means of carrying were 

 left on the way, with their arms, ammunition, etc. The prevalent 

 diseases from which the men suffered were cholera and diarrhoea ; 

 the latter often lasted but a few hours, but quite disabled them 

 from marching under the heavy weight they had to carry. If 

 they could have been conveyed in waggons for a short time, 

 most of them would have been well and able to walk again. 

 The numbers sent on board ship during the march must have 

 been very great, and as most of them were affected only tempor- 

 arily, if they could have been brought on, the strength of the 

 army would not have been so much diminished. We thus sent 

 away twenty or thirty daily. Before we left the Alma we sent 

 upwards of sixty at one time to the ships. We had great 

 difficulty in getting these conveyed down to the sea. It was 

 only by great exertions on the part of the surgeon that he pro- 

 cured some waggons from a commissariat officer, who afterwards 

 said that he got into a scrape for lending them. If he had not 

 done so, we must have left them all behind. 



The men complained much of not having their knapsacks ; 

 the packs they had to carry, consisting of a pair of boots, etc., 

 wrapped in the blanket, were most inconvenient. 



A great number of wounded men and officers were on the 

 field the morning after the battle of Alma, and many were not 

 removed or attended to till quite late in the day. 



I should think that if all the surgeons and assistant-surgeons 



