200 Notes on the Military Stations and 



Towards the middle of January, the number of sick in- 



Progress of sick- creased to upwards of a 100, and diarrhoea 

 ness - and dysentery of the most obstinate kind 



became the common sequelae of the fevers. Sloughing of 

 the cornea with destruction of vision, and sudden and exten- 

 sive dropsy of the scrotum also became frequent. 



There was found at the same time, to be an increase in the 

 number of sick in the 68th, and in the jail, though it was 

 comparatively small. 



The men still remained in camp and in February, and after 

 they began to die, Nostalgia began to prevail to a consider- 

 able extent, and no wonder that it was so, as they were con- 

 stantly deluded by the expectation of the immediate arrival 

 of transports. From this time the number of deaths continued 

 to increase, and almost equalled that which occurred the year 

 before at the same season at Barrackpore, and no improvement 

 took place up to the period of the corps leaving Arracan in 

 May, (vide Table No. 3.) But the deaths were all among the 

 younger men, under 30 years of age. 



Meantime, the mortality in the 68th was very small ; in fact, 

 for three months they did not lose a single man. 



The most obvious causes of the 47th suffering so much, 



Most obvious appear to have been the following : — 1st, the 

 causes. men re mained for six months in a standing 



camp, which always after a time becomes unhealthy; — 2nd, 

 they were particularly exposed to the cool sea breeze, which 

 was too much for sepoys, though bracing to an European 

 constitution ; — 3rd, the vicissitudes of temperature in the 

 unsheltered tents, when there was a powerful sun during 

 the day and heavy fogs at night, were very great; — 4th, 

 from the sandy nature of the soil, it was difficult for the men 

 to cook their food, without a quantity of sand getting into it ; 

 — 5th, the parades were too frequent, especially for a corps 

 containing so many young men ; — 6th, that malaria may have 



