318 JOURNAL, E.A.S. (CEYLON). [Vol. IX. 



prevailing diseases, according to the effect of the climate, 

 exposure to malarious influences, and variations in their food- 

 supply. The Europeans suffered from the endemic inter- 

 mittent and remittent fevers, abscess of the liver, and 

 dysentery, but they were greatly exempted from many 

 diseases to which they are liable in their own country. A 

 large number of British soldiers suffered from the effects of 

 intemperance added to the effects of the climate, and no 

 wonder when arrack was then retailed at sixpence a quart ! 

 It was Marshall's opinion that the regular issue of spirit 

 rations engendered the desire for the immoderate use of 

 spirits, and that frequent indulgence created a craving which 

 had to be supplied. The same sad tale of spirit drinking, as 

 one of the principal causes of sickness and mortality among 

 the troops in Ceylon, is repeated in the Military Sanitary 

 Report for 1864. Five per cent, of the troops were then 

 reported to be confirmed drunkards. 



Africans, called at that time " Kaffries," and who composed 

 five companies of the 2nd Ceylon regiment, the remains 

 of two other regiments 3rd and 4th, were chiefly recruits 

 procured on the east coast of Africa, in the neighbourhood of 

 Mozambique. A few of them were evidently children of 

 Africans brought here by the Dutch. They made good 

 soldiers, and were remarkable for longevity. They were 

 habitually temperate ; but the Malay recruits from Java and 

 Sumatra, for the Ceylon regiments, were addicted to the use 

 of bhang and opium. Although the immoderate use of these 

 narcotics was nearly as hurtful as the free indulgence in 

 spirits, the excessive opium eaters among the Malays were 

 less numerous than the immoderate drinkers among the 

 European troops. They were liable to intermittent fevers or 

 ague when exposed to malaria in the jungle ; inflammation of 

 the lungs, consumption, asthma, and pocky-itch, so called by 

 Mr. Marshall from the eruption leaving deep marks on the skin. 

 The Indian troops, who formed the corps of Gun Lascars, 

 the Pioneer Corps, and five companies of the 2nd Ceylon 



