of the Troops at Kurnaul. 67 



was the unusual nature of the rainy season, acting on a soil which 

 is slow in absorbing moisture. " 



"When rain falls in moderate quantities, and at short intervals, 

 Kurnaul is comparatively healthy, but if to a heavy fall of rain, a long 

 drought succeeds, malaria is generated, and fevers prevail. The two 

 years of 1841 and 1842 closely resembled each other, and from the 

 first fall of rain in the latter part of June, little or none fell until the 

 21st July, when a heavy fall took place, succeeded by a long series of 

 dry sultry days. Had such seasons occurred at Loodiana, the 

 deleterious effects would have been prevented by the rapid absorp- 

 tion caused by the nature of the soil ; and even at Umballah, 

 heavy falls of rain are not necessarily succeeded by the deadly fevers 

 witnessed at Kurnaul." 



Dr. McGregor repudiates the very idea of including among the 

 causes, prejudical to the sanatory condition of Kurnaul, the vicinity 

 or presence of the canal; and, I think, satisfactorily refutes the 

 opinion which has been often advanced of its being the chief 

 source of the great sickness which formerly, as well as of late years, 

 prevailed at Kurnaul. His words are, — " as to stagnant water, there 

 exists on the east of cantonments a canal, which has been ad- 

 duced as the cause of the unusual sickness, which has prevailed at 

 Kurnaul for the last three years. When the 1st European Light 

 Infantry occupied the lines in its vicinity, it was not easy to persuade 

 people that other causes existed, without having recourse to the 

 canal, perfectly sufficient in themselves to account for the unusual 

 sickness ; and the circumstance of the neighbouring district, where 

 there was no canal, being equally sickly, was sufficient to establish 

 this point. In 1843, the new cantonments were vacated, and the 

 European troops cantoned at a distance from the decided source of 

 fever ; it was found, that instead of being less, the sickness was in- 

 creased ; and therefore, though the canal might serve to increase the 

 sickness, it could not be alone blamed for giving rise to it : besides, in 

 the year 1823, or twenty years before, the sickness and mortality at 

 Kurnaul exceeded any thing that has been witnessed since ; there 

 was at that time, I believe, but one company of European Foot 

 Artillery stationed there, and yet the deaths amounted to a fourth of 

 the whole company, or twenty-five per cent., a result which has never 



