32 WANDERINGS OF A 



but not to compare with those of 100 women and 150 children, 

 during the four days we spent on board the EJ.C.'s steamer 

 Mozzufur during the voyage to Kurrachee. To caU it discom- 

 fort is a mild term, when it is considered that 1100 human 

 beings were huddled together like sheep in a fold, lying down 

 at night anywhere, as best they could, unprovided with 

 covering beyond the clothes they wore, exposed to the biting 

 cold of a December night and the scorching heat of mid-day. 

 The regiment had suffered from cholera before leaving Poonah, 

 and a few cases continued on the line of march ; twenty-five 

 persons died immediately after we arrived at Kurrachee. We 

 imported the disease to Scinde, and had it not been that the 

 sick were isolated from the inhabitants and other corps in 

 garrison, by being placed in barracks at a distance, there is 

 no saying what might have been the result ; yet, in those 

 days, no one seemed inclined to admit that the disease was 

 communicable in any way. The doctrine of the non-infectious 

 and non-contagious character of cholera no doubt received 

 considerable support from the desire on the part of communi- 

 ties to prevent panic ; but we find now that the contrary 

 principle is the best, by arousing public attention to the 

 threatened danger, and the adoption of sanitary measures to 

 prevent the spread of this formidable and fatal malady. 



After Poonah the scenery of Kurrachee, in 1849, wore no 

 very inviting aspect — ^long tracts of sandy waste and level 

 shore ; everything, animate and inanimate, appeared as though 

 just emerged from a dust-storm. Hedges, trees, and dwell- 

 ings looked hoary, as if covered with the frost of an English 

 winter, not a blade of grass visible ; and except the palm, 

 cactus, and a few stunted shrubs, the surrounding coiuatry was 

 one desolate and dreary wilderness. 



During the cold months the sun is powerful at mid-day, 



