1839.] Lieut. Irwin* 8 Memoir of Afghanistan. 801 



means of observing the manners of the people, as well as the nature 

 of the country. Accordingly there are found among them many who 

 are stored with curious and useful information. In their own pro- 

 fession they seem to be judicious, according as they have more or less 

 discarded the absurd theories of their books, and proceeded on their 

 own observations, and the practical remarks current in the quarters 

 they have visited. Although surgery be on the whole in a low state, 

 there are some operations which are here performed with great 

 judgment. There are parts of the country in which continual strife 

 prevails, and wounds are generally received, and yet scarcely one 

 professed surgeon is to be found. 



85. The Cabul Mission left Delhi on the 12th of October, 1808, 

 and arrived at Beekaneer on the 5th of November. During its stay 

 there many natives of the escort and camp followers were buried. 

 This was not attributable to the unhealthiness of the place or season, 

 but to some preceding circumstances, — severe marching in sand, bad 

 or indifferent water on the route, and great vicissitudes of heat and cold 

 between day and night in the month of October; but, above all, the 

 incautiously eating water-melons and drinking water after heat and 

 fatigue. In passing the desert some individuals were affected with 

 Nyktolopia, but by proper treatment they speedily recovered. Diseases 

 in Buhawulpoor, Mooltan, and Dera, and Ismaul-Khan are generally 

 the same as those of our provinces, with the addition of eye com- 

 plaints, which are comparatively rare in them. Coughs and catarrhs 

 are common in Buhawulpoor. The natives of the detachment ex- 

 perienced during their stay in this country, a cold somewhat greater 

 than that of their own. In the march to Peshawur they were ex- 

 posed to severe rain, cold, and fatigue, combined. In Peshawur they 

 were but ill accommodated, and exposed to heat and closeness, yet 

 daring all this time they were never unhealthy. They marched 

 through the Punjab during the rains, a circumstance which far from 

 being unfavorable, probably preserved them in greater health than 

 they would have enjoyed if halted ; there is therefore no reason to 

 conclude the countries they passed through to be unhealthy for 

 strangers. 



86. The water of the upper Punjab indeed, is celebrated both by na- 

 tives and strangers, and the climate vaunted as remarkably salubrious. 

 This boast is not altogether unjust, for here we find but little of the 

 eye complaints so common in similar climates to the west and south. 

 The Sikhs seem a healthy race, and there are found among them some 

 fine persons and faces. They appear built, however, more for activity 



